Final Fox
by Forsaken and Darklost
Summary: Crossover: During a attack, Naruto is saved by a gunman, and then taken in and raised in Midgar. See how the number one, surprising ninja of Konoha rises up to become a powerful ninja. Pairings vary. Adult content: language, scenes, gore, and violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or Final Fantasy VII, if I did, I would be rich enough to find a place away from all world strife and annoyance and enjoy life to the fullest!

**A/N:** This idea was inspired to me by a specific author who has a knack of blending other things into the Naruto world. So I thought I'd try my hand at it and see what would happen and here is the result. Please enjoy and let me know what you think…

***********

**Chapter 1**

A poor blonde boy was running down an empty street from what looked to be an enraged mob. The blonde was panting heavily as he clutched his side where a kunai had found itself lodged in him. He would have pulled it out if he had the time, but he knew he hadn't a moment to spare with the mob right on his tail. It didn't help much that there were a few Chunin hiding in the mob to keep their identity a secret from most onlookers. They threw their kunai and shurikens whenever possible between the gaps and openings the mob gave way for them at the boy. Were it not for a few lucky turns and dodges, the blonde would have been a pin-cushion for their weapons.

He made it to an alley he believed to have a small hole into a basement, thinking that if he could get there fast enough, he could slip into the hole and hide out in the basement until the mob cooled down, or until the guys with funny animal masks appeared. And again, were he not worried about the mob chasing him, he might have had a moment to wonder why there weren't around to save him. All he knew was that he had to get to his hiding spot and quickly!

Upon entering the alley, he found his frantic mind had betrayed him and led him to one that actually was just a dead end. Desperate, he began trying to find whatever cover he could get to before the mob saw him trapped at the dead end.

His search was quickly put to an end however when he felt something stab his left arm…

"I got you that time, demon!" shouted an angry Chunin, stalking into the alley with the rest of the mob and a few other Chunin. "You won't get away this time!"

Naruto whimpered on the ground, trying to crawl away from the angry mob swarming down on him.

The Chunin who had thrown the kunai drew a katana and smirked down at the boy cruelly. "Don't think we're gonna let you have a quick death, damn fox…oh no, you're gonna suffer like I did when you ripped my beloved piece by piece." He stabbed the blonde in the leg, hearing a cheer from everyone around him when a ripple of agony came out of the little boy's throat, also pinning him to the dirty alley floor. "Get ready for a world of pain before we send you to meet the Shinigami!" With gleeful rage, he raised his katana again and brought it down on the crying boy…

***********

"Come on, Vincent!!" whined a high-pitched, annoyed teenage voice. "We're supposed to meet the Hokage in like…OH MY GOSH!" she screamed when she looked at her wristwatch. "…Fifteen minutes ago! We're already late! OHMYGOSH! OHMYGOSH!!!" She waved one arm frantically as she tried dragging her companion to where she believed the Hokage's Tower was at.

Although, he stood a good two feet in height over her, that didn't slow the short teenager down any. Little did anyone know, except for her friends, that she was an accomplished ninja and a very strong one at that. Many wouldn't believe that though from her looks. Her short brunette hair and pale complexion and dark-brown eyes would leave someone to think she was a normal, typical teenage girl.

Her companion on the other hand looked as strong as he was. The tall man had long, spiky hair that was darker than hers and skin deathly paler and eyes as red as blood which had a soft, eerie glow to them. And unlike his young companion, who was dressed in normal clothing that consisted of shorts, a blue blouse with flower designs all over it, and a black sports-bra underneath it, and black combat boots. His attire was far more intimidating. To start, he wore black baggy pants that connected to a leather battle shirt. Over the shirt, he had a red cape with a cowl that hid the bottom half of his face from view, with a crimson bandanna covering more of his face and keeping his wild, spiky hair out of his eyes. Strangely though, he had two different kinds of gloves on. On his right arm, he wore a glove with buckled straps wrapped around his forearm. For his left arm…he wore what looked like a gold plated gauntlet that ended in gold talons over his long fingers. His boots were also covered by gold plates and both boots ended with a long gold spike. Riding on his right hip rested a holster with a unique weapon never before seen in the Elemental Nations.

He smiled somewhat at his panicked companion, but no one could see it because of his cowl. "Relax, Yuffie…We're not even supposed to be here until tomorrow, remember?"

"Huh?" uttered the ninja girl. "Really?! I thought today was the day we were supposed to be here?"

"You know how Cid takes pride in his ships…he got us here as quick as possible," murmured Vincent, thinking of the chain-smoking, loud pilot.

"Ugh! Don't talk about airships! I'm still feeling motion sickness from that baka's reckless flying!" screamed Yuffie, before she halted and wrapped her arms around her queasy stomach. "…That loud baka doesn't even pack tranquilizers for my condition…"

Vincent remained silent as he had already tuned her out when his sensitive ears picked up a faint scream. Something in him stirred and urged him to go quickly to that source of the scream. Not even bothering to warn his companion, the caped man darted down the street with a speed and grace any ninja of Konoha would be envy to have.

Yuffie would have noted her friend's sudden departure had she not been too focused on complaining about her poor, sick stomach and mouthing off curses at the pilot that brought them here. It wasn't until she actually asked for his opinion that she looked up and found him gone. "Vincent? Vincent!! Where the hell did you go?!"

***********

Vincent was running as fast as he could down the street, keeping his senses on alert for the scream. He heard it soon again and grimaced as it was more painful than the last, which drove him to leap up the side of a building, an easy fit for someone like him, and run about on the rooftops with the same ease. He soon heard more noises as he approached the source, and frowned as he heard the many voices of angry people gathered together. Normally, he would have just left something like this alone…or he would have a few years ago. He was different now thanks to the aid of his companions and some recent events. Now he was more self-conscious of others than ever and he believed it was that reason that drove him to seek out the person in trouble.

His soft glowing eyes gazed down at the angry mob and they flared briefly when he spotted the source of their anger, more importantly, the bloody katana that was being use. Feeling a rage he hadn't felt in a long time, he moved in closer to the scene to get a better look at who they were attacking. His crimson eyes boiled with rage when he spotted a beat up, bloodied six-year-old boy lying on the ground clutching the stump that used to be his left arm.

Vincent's eyes narrowed as a silent coldness freeze the hot rage that was in them. Quicker than any eye could see, Vincent drew the unique weapon from his holster, aiming a three-barreled gun at the Chunin with the katana and took half a second to aim at his head. He quickly squeezed the trigger of his gun and fired three bullets simultaneously, resulting in instant death to the unsuspecting Chunin. The mob cried out in shock and the Chunin mixed in the group looked up to see the dark gunman and were about to avenge their fellow ninja when they were shot down by Vincent when they reached or readied their weapons.

Vincent fired a few more rounds to scare the mob away from the boy and leapt down to the injured blonde. He kneeled down by the boy's side and pulled out an odd bottle and uncorked it with his clawed thumb. "…Drink this, it'll help you."

Seeing the boy was too far in shock from the loss of his limb, Vincent careful pried the boy's mouth open to allow the X-Potion he brought along for an emergency to pour down his throat. Immediately, the potion healed his severe injuries in a soft, green glow…but sadly, it could not regenerate his missing arm, instead, it sealed the stump with soft pink flesh. The boy blinked in confusion at his sudden recovery and stared in awe at the gunman that just saved him.

Before he could thank the stranger for helping him, Vincent whipped his gun up and aimed it at a civilian who had tried to sneak up on him with a small scythe in his hands.

"…Back away or you will die," said Vincent in a deadly calm tone.

The civilian wasn't going to let this stranger intimidate him so easily. "You don't know what you're doing, stranger, or what you're saving! That thing is a demon! A plague in our village that should have been purged the moment it was conceived!"

Vincent didn't reply with words. Instead, he chose to cock the barrels of his gun and aim it right at the man's head.

"You don't understand!" screamed the civilian loudly. "He murdered many people of our village! He must be made to pay for his sins!" He went over to the boy's severed arm and crushed it under his boot until it was bloody mess, ruining any chases of it being re-attached to the boy.

'_Pay for his sins…'_ thought Vincent stoically, glaring at civilian's bloody foot.

Vincent began to lower his gun. The civilian believing he had talked sensed into the stranger smiled and began walking toward the blonde boy, readying to use his scythe, when his weapon was shot out of hand instantly and a gold claw found itself around his throat.

"You know nothing of sins…" growled Vincent softly as he began choking the man, then with a flick of his wrist, he tossed the man on his back. "He's a boy to my eyes not a demon…If there is a monster here, it sure isn't him."

"The demon tries to trick everyone by possessing that boy!" a woman with pink hair shrieked, who had gathered enough courage to return. "It has to die before it can kill more of us!"

Vincent leveled his red eyes on the pink-haired woman. The force of his stare made her whimper back in fright. He sneered at all of them and reached down and picked up the boy by the back of his shirt with his clawed hand. He gently placed the boy on his shoulder and held him there. "Don't panic, we're going to leave now…"

Holstering his gun, he used his gloved hand to grab his cape and swing it around the two of them, as he did, the cape covered them both and seem to come alive and began jerking like a red ghost into the air and vanished from their sight. The red cape floated over the city, bouncing over rooftops and poles until it came to the Hokage's Tower. The cape began to settle down and unfold, returning to sight Vincent and the boy as it settled down behind him. The two guards at the front door didn't know what to make of this stranger's sudden appearance, until they spotted the blonde on his shoulder.

"Hey! What are you doing with that brat?!" growled one of the guards.

Vincent calmly ignored them and started walking toward the door.

The guards reached for their weapons and took defensive stances right in front of the door.

"Stop stranger or we will kill you!" barked the other guard.

Vincent once more ignored them and continued approaching. Right as he came upon them, his eyes glowed a brighter red. "You will let me see your Hokage…I'm one of the representatives from Midgar." He reached into a pocket and showed the guards his credentials. "If you impede my arrival, it will be made known to your superior. Now stand aside."

Reluctantly, the two guards looked at his credentials and gave them back to him and let him enter. Vincent didn't miss the scornful glare they both shot up at the blonde, who cringed in fear from their accusing gaze. The dark gunman snarled behind his cowl and quickly made his way to the Hokage's office after he asked for directions from the receptionist. Were he in his normal state of mind, he'd have just let Yuffie or someone else handle this matter, not wishing to get involved, but after seeing what the villagers did to the boy…and accusing him of being a demon rubbed him the wrong way. He marched to the Hokage's office and told the secretary to get him, glaring at her dangerously when she looked ready to protest. As soon as she informed the Hokage, she bowed to him and told him he could enter.

Vincent charged into the office and locked eyes with an old wrinkled man who sat behind the desk, with his hands folded over his lap as he smoked from a wooden pipe. His calm exterior changed to worry when he saw exactly who Vincent had resting on his shoulder.

"Naruto! W-What happened to you?!" cried the old man, sitting up from his desk faster than someone his age should have and stormed over to Vincent.

"I'm okay, Jiji-san!" replied the blonde, trying his best to hide his healed stump.

"No, you're not! What happened to you…and…oh, Kami, what happened to your arm!?" worried the Hokage.

Vincent gently put Naruto down on the floor. "He was attacked by your people, Lord Hokage…and by your own ninja…if the headbands and weapons were anything to go by." He then told how the villagers were all over Naruto, and the one that ruined his severed arm. At the end of his story, he studied the old man's reactions and started frowning when he saw the look on the Hokage's face.

The Hokage lowered his gaze and pulled the boy into his arms and patted his shoulders.

"…This wasn't the first time, was it?" deduced Vincent, narrowing his eyes at the old man.

"…Sadly, no," replied the Sandaime. "There's been quite a few and I'm sure many more in the future…but I-I never thought they'd go so far as this!"

"You don't really sound that surprised," commented Vincent coldly.

"You don't know our story, sir," retorted the Hokage sharply.

"Seeing people attacking an innocent boy is enough for me to know that this village may not be the best alliance for Wutai," countered Vincent, folding his arms over his chest.

The old Hokage grimaced and looked back down at Naruto in defeat. "…Yes, you're right…Mr.?"

"Just Vincent will do," replied the gunman blankly.

"Ah, Vincent then. My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage," replied the Hokage with a nod.

Vincent returned the nod, but said nothing more.

"…I will see that this matter is resolved and the attackers arrested," stated Sarutobi as he returned to his desk and rested Naruto on one knee. "…I'm so sorry, my boy…I don't know how I will make this up to you."

Naruto reached over and rubbed his stump, grinning in failed attempt at the old man. "Nothing that I can't work around! I'll still become a ninja and then become the greatest Hokage ever!"

The Hokage looked at the young boy with sad, teary eyes. "No Naruto…I'm afraid that dream won't happen now…not with a missing arm."

Naruto widened his eyes at the old man. "B-But that can't be true…is it?!"

"It is…you can't perform as a proper ninja with just one arm…you need two in order to use jutsus, Naruto…and Konoha has no one that can re-attach your lost arm since it was destroyed," sighed Sarutobi. "You will never become a ninja…I'm so sorry."

It was hearing those words that finally broke the boy's will. He burst out in painful sobs and hugged the Hokage desperately as he realized his dreams were really beyond hope.

Vincent couldn't stand to see the boy in such pain. A child shouldn't have to bare the pain and sorrow like he was forced to. No, this wouldn't stand by for him; he wouldn't let this boy's dreams die because of fools that couldn't see past their fears.

"I can have his arm replaced," replied Vincent suddenly, making a quick decision right there and then. "If you allow me to take him to Midgar, I know someone who can make him an artificial arm to replace the one he lost. It won't be like his old one…but I can promise you, it will be effective."

The Hokage smiled in relief. "…I would be in your eternal gratitude if you do this for the boy."

Vincent just stared at him impassively. "There are a few things I want to clear up before I agree to any aid…"

"Oh?" quirked the old man. "What is there to clear up?"

Vincent just stared at the old man with cold indifference.

"Hmm, I imagine you might have heard something about the boy," murmured the old man, rubbing his chin.

"That he's a demon," remarked Vincent bluntly.

Naruto flinched at his words and clung to the old man for some security. "…They kept calling me that…" he looked at the man he considered his only precious person. "…Jiji-san…is it true. Am I a demon?"

"No, it's not true!" reassured Sarutobi, patting the boy's back. "…But it's complicated and you're not ready for the truth just yet."

Vincent walked up to the pair and tapped one golden claw on Naruto's stump. "I think that says differently…"

The old man glared at the dark gunman, but he found he couldn't keep the cold stare with Vincent. "…You have to understand, it's a SS-ranked secret of the village, and I cannot reveal it to anyone. There are too many people that would come and kill the boy if they knew."

"Your villagers don't seem to agree. After what I saw, they were willing to kill him anyway," retorted Vincent. "What would stop someone from your village from telling someone outside Konoha about him, or for that matter, trying to kill him again themselves?"

"…The penalty is death," replied Sarutobi coldly.

Vincent grunted at his show. "But they were just moments away from doing just that…had I not stopped them. I don't think it will be long before they try again."

Just then, an ANBU with a Weasel mask shushined into the Office. "Lord Hokage! We found Naruto's apartment empty! We…" He stopped when he spotted the missing boy sitting on the Hokage's lap; he bowed his head low to the ground in shame when he saw the missing limb from the boy. "Forgive me, Hokage! I…I should have stayed at my post as you ordered me!"

"Oh? And why didn't you stay at your post?" wondered Sarutobi, eyeing the ANBU questionably.

"There was a recent attempt of kidnapping of the Hyuuga Heiress, Hyuuga Hinata!" answered the ANBU. "I was given orders from another ANBU who said the Council demanded all ANBU to join and search for any intruders. At the time, I was worried for the young heiress and believed the Uzumaki child would be safe in his apartment until I returned…I made a grave mistake."

Sarutobi nodded his head at the ANBU. "I believe you. Now stand at ease. The problem was resolved thanks to our guest here." He gestured with a hand toward Vincent.

The ANBU bowed his head respectively toward Vincent. "You have my gratitude…"

Vincent gave him a brief nod.

"Is the heiress safe?" asked Sarutobi with deep concern.

"Yes," replied the ANBU. "With the help of an unsuspected person, the kidnapper was stopped and is currently being interrogated by Ibiki as we speak."

"Unsuspected person?" repeated the Hokage, looking curious and looking at Vincent to see the gunman lowering his head slightly and sighing.

"…Yuffie," muttered Vincent.

Sarutobi laughed. "Well, it looks like this village is more indebted to you, Vincent!"

Vincent shrugged and then turned to the ANBU. "Do you know where Yuffie is right now?"

The ANBU nodded. "The young lady is currently at the Hyuuga compound. She seemed to be very spirited in making sure there were no more attempted kidnappings of the girl."

If it weren't for the cowl, everyone would see the smirk appear on Vincent's face. "She has a problem with anyone who kidnaps young girls…" He left it at that and didn't feel he needed to mention the time she was kidnapped by a Don planning on marrying her, or the fact that at the time she stole all their Materia for her country to use. Thankfully, her need to steal her companion's Materia was cured...but sometimes, he would see her eyeing his own Materia and wondered about her. "Don't worry about her. She's an excellent ninja even if she may not act like it sometimes…"

Sarutobi chuckled at that and patted Naruto on the back once more. "Well, if anything, the alliance between Konoha and Wutai will definitely be assured."

"…There's still the boy we need to discuss," reminded Vincent, nodding his head slightly at the ANBU.

Sarutobi frowned. He had hoped that the gunman would forget and not bring up the sensitive topic again, but he realized he was fooling himself. He nodded slightly at the ANBU. "You're dismissed from your duties for tonight. You needn't worry about looking after Naruto."

"I must refuse, my lord," replied the ANBU. "I failed my duties by leaving Naruto alone…I will continue my duty and keep an eye on him. Do you wish for me to return him to his apartment?"

"Apartment?" uttered Vincent, his sharp mind figuring out a few pieces of the puzzle about how the boy wasn't being protected. "Does he live in this apartment by himself?"

"Yes, unfortunately…" admitted the Hokage, confirming his suspicion. "He was kicked out of the orphanage when he turned five. I had to arrange a place for him, but my hands are limited to how much I can help the boy as he's a civilian and not a ninja of Konoha yet."

Vincent mused over the information for some time and once more felt something inside him stir…right before his world turned black and he found himself in a place he thought he'd never return to. ..In the Crystal Cavern where his true love now rested within a pillar of crystallized Lifestream.

'_The boy isn't safe, Vincent…'_ said an ethereal voice in his mind.

'_Lucreisa?' _uttered Vincent in shock, feeling her presence from within the crystal.

'_He's important to The Planet and needs to be protected…You must see to his safety, Vincent…Take him away from that village…it'll be his doom if he stays…'_

Vincent felt her presence leave and he almost reached out to try and pull her back to him, but caught himself as he found himself back in the Hokage's office. He hadn't heard Lucreisa since he stopped an organization called Deepground, and if The Planet was letting her speak to him from her resting place, then it was of great importance that he heed her words.

"Lord Hokage…I want to speak to you, privately," said Vincent.

"Hmm, oh, yes, yes!" uttered Sarutobi, motioning for the ANBU to take Naruto from his lap. "Keep an eye on Naruto in the other room. I need to finish my business between this gentlemen and I."

"Yes, Hokage," said the ANBU with respect and took Naruto out of the office.

When they were out of the room, the Hokage repacked his pipe and lit it with a minor fire jutsu. "So? What is it you wish to speak about, Vincent?"

"I want to take the boy to Midgar with me, but not just to replace his arm. I want to raise and train him," said Vincent plainly.

Sarutobi nearly dropped his pipe. "What?! Now see here! I am grateful for your aid, but you cannot take the boy from his home village!"

"What good is a home when everyone around him wants him dead?" retorted Vincent coldly. "As a representative of the World Regenesis Organization and aiding in the alliance with Wutai, I can end this alliance right now and see no more deals are ever made."

Sarutobi glared at the dark gunman. "You have no right…"

"I have as much right as a man who has power can't keep his own people from murdering an innocent boy," snarled Vincent coldly.

Sarutobi sighed heavily and took a long draw from his pipe. "…Were he any other child, I'd agree…"

"Were he any other child? It should not matter. He is just a boy and by no means deserves this kind of life," snipped Vincent, feeling his irritation with this old man grow.

"You aren't going to change your mind, are you?" groaned the old man.

Vincent's silent response was his only answer.

"Fine, you win…and I can't say it's a bad idea," replied Sarutobi warily. "Since he was born, he has been the target of this village's entire ire…"

"Why exactly? How can a small boy have this village's wrath aimed at him?" wondered Vincent.

"It isn't really the boy they're angry about, although most of them think he isn't a boy…it's what the boy holds inside him," replied Sarutobi, taking another long draw from his pipe, and then slowly exhaling the smoke through his nose. "Before I go on, I need you to remember that this is a village secret and I cannot allow anyone else to know."

"Once I hear the secret, then I'll decide," stated Vincent, narrowing his eyes once more at the old man.

"Fine…" growled Sarutobi, leaning back into his chair and holding his pipe tightly. "Six years ago…Our village was attacked by a demon, and not just any demon, but the strongest of the Bijuu, the Nine-Tailed Fox, Kyuubi No Yoko…We aren't sure what angered the demon and why it attacked us, but we did our best to try and stop it, but the demon was too powerful for even the entire strength of Konoha to hold back. It wasn't until the Yondaime Hokage…" he pointed at a portrait of the Yondaime that hung on the wall in his office. "…Created a jutsu that would stop the Kyuubi, but at the cost of performing the jutsu was the user's life. But the jutsu didn't kill the Kyuubi as our history books will tell. No, the Kyuubi was in fact sealed inside an infant. It couldn't be anything else as the Kyuubi's Chakra was too strong to hold in an inanimate object, or an adult. It had to be an infant with an undeveloped Chakra system…only then could it be contained and not have a chance to escape."

"He must have grieved so much when he used his own son to hold back such a demon," remarked Vincent.

The Hokage gawked at the gunman. "…How did you know he used his own son?!"

"I didn't. I just guessed but thank you for confirming it for me," replied Vincent with a nod.

Sarutobi growled at his own stupidity for letting himself be fooled so easily. "…You're an interesting person Vincent."

"Hm…" grunted Vincent uncaringly.

Sarutobi sighed at the strange man and started chewing on the tip of his pipe. "…Before I even consider letting you take the boy to raise, I want you to promise me a few things."

Vincent merely stared at him in patience.

"I want him to return here to take the Genin exams. I want him to become a proud ninja of Konoha and continue his father's legacy," stated Sarutobi seriously. "And you will not tell him of his origins. The Yondaime had too many enemies in his life, so many that he had to keep his marriage to his wife a secret to keep her safe. If Naruto is to have any chances of living outside the village, he cannot know."

"I was able to make you tell me who his father was. Although I assumed he was just from the shocking resemblance he has of him. It would not be very hard for any of his true enemies to figure out," growled Vincent, pointing at the portrait. "I will agree to his return to partake your exam, but I will tell him who his father is when I see fit…" He pointed his golden claw at the Sandaime. "…You've lost that right the moment you couldn't keep your own people from seeing who and what he really is."

"…I'll let that go without any hostility as you are right and I know I failed the Yondaime," said Sarutobi lowly, glaring at the gunman. "But you must understand…"

Vincent cut him off with waving his clawed hand. "I don't care about your reasons…And as for his demon. You can say I'm an expert on demons in my own way."

This made the old man raise his eyebrows. "Oh? Somehow that makes me want to keep Naruto here all the more now."

Vincent shook his head in irritation. "Have you heard of the demon, Chaos?"

"Chaos?" uttered Sarutobi, looking deep in thought. "…Yes, I believe I've heard a tale where he would bring the end of life to all upon the day the world died…why are you mentioning that old child's tale."

Vincent smirked softly and tapped his chest with a gold claw. "I held Chaos for a time inside my body…"

Sarutobi now stared at the gunman with awe and a bit of fear now. "…H-How?"

"That is a long story and I don't feel like telling it right now," grunted Vincent. "But I can help the boy with his demon…as it sounds like the same case that was forced on me." He looked out the window behind the Sandaime and folded his arms over his chest in contemplation. "If I take him to Midgar, he won't be seen as a demon, no one will know him, and the WRO will see that all information on him is kept safe. Reeve is an expert at keeping secrets and guarding them. If anything, he'll have a better life away from those that know what's within him."

The old man turned his chair around so he too could stare out the window to gaze at his village. "I just wanted the boy to have a normal childhood…"

"That was impossible the moment his father placed that demon in him. He never had a chance and pretending to believe the village will one day understand is just reckless," replied Vincent bluntly.

Sarutobi had the courtesy to flinch at his remark. "Yes...just an old man's foolishness."

Vincent didn't feel he needed to reply as he truthfully believed the old man was at fault here. He stood with the Hokage for a few moments as the two shared that time in silence. It probably would have continued had Vincent remembered the boy waiting outside the office.

"I will take him with me when my companion and I leave…I want all his belongings packed and readied for the departure," declared Vincent.

"I will see everything is taken care of, but first I still need to conclude the alliance treaty with your representative from Wutai," replied Sarutobi, hoping that he could stall for some time to keep Naruto in the village for a bit longer.

"That would be Yuffie," stated Vincent. "As soon as she stops fooling around, she'll come here…and I expect the negotiations to go quickly…" He ended with a cold stare at the old man. "As once all business matters are done, we will leave immediately."

The Sandaime laughed nervously and waved a hand to show he conceded. "All right, I see you're a man that likes to get things resolved quickly."

Vincent turned away from the old man, swiping his cape out of his way with his clawed hand, and stalked out of the office in silence.

"…What an odd man," remarked Sarutobi.

***********

At the Hyuuga Compound, the clan was amazed by the speed and energy of this teenage girl that kept vanishing from their sight, even when they activated their Kekkei Genkai to try and track her, and reappear completely somewhere else, and what was more impressive to the stoic clan was that none of them could see her making any hand-signs as she shushined everywhere and didn't look the least bit tired.

Hiashi sat on a porch with his wife, who was holding a sleeping Hinata in her arms protectively. She cradled her sleeping daughter and whispered words of love in her ear, in hopes her dreams would wash away the ordeal she was just put through.

The clan leader gazed lovingly at his wife and his daughter, which was rare for the man ever since he became clan heir. But after nearly seeing his only child be stolen from him, and then to see the devastated look in his beloved's eyes, and relief when their daughter came back to them, would make even his cold, stoic mask crack. He had his arms wrapped around his wife and stroked her arms tenderly.

"…We almost lost her," said his wife.

"It will never happen again, Nina," promised Hiashi softly so as to not wake their daughter.

There was a sudden commotion at the Compound Entrance. Hiashi whispered he'd return in a moment to his wife and made his way to the entrance. He was greeted with an odd sight as he approached. Standing at the entrance was the foreign ninja yelling at the top of her lungs at a tall, red-clad stranger, who just stood there and took her abusive words.

"Is there a problem?" Hiashi asked stoically, folding his arms into his sleeves of his robe.

The stranger gazed at him and placed his gloved hand over the young girl's mouth, who continued to yell at him despite the hand.

"I've just come to see if my companion was all right and to ask her to report the Hokage as she was supposed to," the red-clad stranger replied, looking at his young companion with a stern look.

The young ninja batted his hand off her mouth. "If you hadn't have run off like you did, I wouldn't have had to look all over this huge village for your emo-ass!! GOSH!"

Vincent rolled his eyes, ignoring what she called him. "What happened here?"

She instantly stopped snapping at him and became very serious. "…As I was looking around, I spotted his man running through an empty street. Just from the way he was dressed, I knew he wasn't a local, so I followed him here. When I figured what he was here for, I ambushed him in the courtyard." She beat her fist into the air. "And I showed him a thing or two!"

Vincent once more smirked behind his cowl. "Good work, Yuffie."

The ninja gawked at her companion as a faint blush crossed over her cheeks. "…._The_ Vincent Valentine, the cold, scary-emo gunslinger of the group just gave a compliment….OH MY GOSH!!"

Vincent sighed. "…never mind, I take it back."

If she heard him she acted otherwise as she was jumping around in joy and shock.

Hiashi merely watched the odd spectacle with calm indifference, but soon he walked over to Vincent and bowed his head low. "You and your companion have the thanks of the entire Hyuuga clan, and we are indebted to you."

Vincent waved his gratitude aside with his gloved hand. "Nothing is needed. We did what could be done to save two lives."

"Two? I wasn't aware that there was another attempt on someone else?" said Hiashi with outward mild concern, inside his heart was beating wildly at the news. "Was another clan attacked this night?"

"No, but a boy was," replied Vincent. "But that matter was resolved quickly. Now, if there isn't anything more, I need Yuffie to report to your Hokage."

Hiashi bowed to him respectfully. "Then I won't hold you here any longer. But understand that you two will always be welcomed here among the clan."

Vincent nodded silently to him and turned away, using his golden-clad arm to sweep his cape behind him. "Come on, Yuffie. We need to go."

"Huh? Oh, uh, okay! Bye everyone!" said Yuffie cheerfully, then quickly ran to catch up with her fast departing companion.

Nina came over to stand by her husband's side. "What a strange pair..."

"Quite, Nina...but they saved our daughter and a boy of our village," said Hiashi, taking his wife once more into his arms. "No matter how strange, I will keep my word...despite the elders...we will repay them however we can."

Nina smiled up at him and leaned her head on his chest. "I feel one day you will, my husband...you will."

************

A/N: There we are. My first attempt at a Naruto/FFVII crossover. Let me know what you all think and I'll do my best to hurry up with the next installation! Till then...


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or Final Fantasy VII, if I did, I would be rich enough to find a place away from all world strife and annoyance and enjoy life to the fullest!

**A/N: **Thanks for the positive feedback everyone. I've not much to say right now so let's just move onto the story, shall we?

************

**Chapter 2**

"This has got to be the dullest day ever," drawled Kotetsu as he put his chin in his hand, sighing heavily.

"You say that every day," grumbled Izumo, eyeing his partner with plain annoyance.

"And I'm gonna keep saying it until something interesting actually happens, or until they stop putting us on guard duty. Man! This is boring. I can't wait until I can make jonin, then I can leave all this boring work for the poor saps they replace us with," replied Kotetsu, sighing once more.

"Yeah, yeah. You've been saying that every day, too," said Izumo, now sighing himself. "Oh well, it's better that its dull and boring like this. At least it means things are still peaceful."

Kotetsu grimaced and nodded. "That's true. I guess I better watch out what I wish for, huh?"

"Might be a wise choice...as you never know what could be coming your way," a deep, indifferent voice remarked.

"Yeah, you're right, buddy...I..wait, huh?" uttered Kotetsu, who gazed up from his seat to stare right into a pair of cold, red eyes. "Er, umm...Hello there. Hey! Where'd you come from...and who's the kid with you?" he added after glancing to the man's side to see a small boy standing quietly next to him.

Both chunin regarded them warily. Neither of them sensed their approach or even heard them until they were practically in front of them.

"City of Edge," the owner of those red eyes replied stiffly, pulling out a scroll and handing it to the guards. "This should be enough to let us enter."

Izumo took the scroll and read it; as he did, his eyes bolted wide open and he quickly gave the scroll back to the strange, cold man. "Welcome back to Konoha, Lord Valentine!"

"Lord? I was only a representative for the WRO last time I was here, nothing more," abolished Vincent, waving his clawed hand at the chunin.

"Er, well, still...that's a high honor and status around here," replied Kotetsu respectfully, then bent down to quickly write the report of the visit. "Please, go on in, sir. We will inform the Hokage that you've arrived."

Vincent shrugged and proceeded through the gates with the quiet boy in tow behind him.

After they left and they were sure they weren't within hearing range anymore, Kotetsu gawked at the small boy that was following the representative. "Does that kid look like someone we know?"

Izumo took a close glance at the boy. "Hmm, does look familiar..." A smile then graced his face. "And if it's who I think it is...well, my friend. Your boredom will soon be cured."

"I hope you're right. If so, then things are gonna get really interesting around here again!" smiled Kotetsu.

It didn't take long for the pair to soon reach the Hokage's office and soon inform the secretary working for the Hokage of their arrival. The two were soon called in once they mentioned their names, both ignoring the glare that the secretary shot at the boy as he walked by her and entered the office. Sarutobi sat up from his desk and smiled at the pair, but that smile soon faded when he was met with a blank, emotionless stare. The smile soon returned when he spotted a familiar fox-like grin beaming at him. He almost didn't see the grin as the thirteen-year-old boy was wearing a black cowl, which he pulled down so he could see his face clearly, like the man standing next to him and a black cape that covered most of his body. Long spiky blonde locks hid quite a bit of the boy's face, some of it trailing down behind him and pulled back into a tight ponytail, with a dark orange bandanna around his forehead. The boy was average height for someone his age, but any other physical features were hidden under his cape.

"Hey, old man. Your hair's gotten greyer than last time I saw it!" remarked the boy, raising a black, leather fingerless-gloved hand and waved it at the Hokage.

"Naruto, is that you? My, you've grown so much since you left for Midgar!" said Sarutobi, smiling warmer at this unofficial grandson. "You look like you've become very strong."

Expecting a loud boast and cheer, he was disappointed when the boy shrugged it off and smiled plainly. "Kinda, but I'm still working on it, but thanks for the compliment."

The Sandaime stared in bewilderment at the boy for a moment before his smile grew wider. "I see more than just your physical attributes have grown in you."

The blonde jerked his thumb up at Vincent. "Thanks to tou-san, here. He and Aunt Yuffie have really been great to me!"

"Tou-san?" murmured Sarutobi, looking up at the stoic gunman.

"Is that a problem?" growled Vincent lightly.

"N-No! It just seemed that you just wanted to train the boy...not well, umm?" stuttered the old man, looking slightly awkward at him.

"Ah, don't let tou-san scare ya, Old man," said Naruto. "He's just sensitive whenever someone questions his parenting skills."

"It's as if no one expects me to do anything more than shoot things..." grumbled Vincent lightly, folding his arms over his chest.

"Well, you do," chuckled Naruto. "But that's just one of the reasons that makes you so cool, tou-san!"

A small smile graced the ex-Turk's lips and he patted the spiky haired boy. He then brought his cold gaze down on Sarutobi. "As I promised, I let him come back to this village to take your Genin Exam..."

"Ahem, yes...well, I'm glad you kept your word," stated Sarutobi, trying to wonder why this man unnerved him so much. The man the shinobi world had labeled "The God of Shinobi". "You brought him a bit early, so he'll have to attend the Academy for five months before graduation. That should give him enough time to catch up on any studying he may have missed."

"Not likely," said Naruto in a dull voice.

"Hmm? Oh, you believe you're ready to become a shinobi now?" smirked Sarutobi.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't believe. I know I am."

The solid confidence the boy radiated from his words impressed the old shinobi, but he still had his doubts. "You learned everything from the scrolls that I had sent with you when you first left with Vincent?"

"Yes," stated Naruto clearly and without hesitation. "But I have one drawback that's not my fault at all."

"Oh? And what would that be, Naruto?" wondered the old man.

"I have too much chakra, way too much to perform the basic bunshin that is required from any Academy student. I've worked on all the chakra control techniques you've given me and mastered them, but my chakra is too strong for the weak jutsu to handle," explained Naruto, looking very perturbed about the fact.

"Maybe then with more training, you will soon master it. It's standard for every Academy student to learn the basic jutsus and know our history in order to pass. We cannot make any exceptions," stated Sarutobi, leaning back into his chair and pulling out his pipe.

"Not my fault that I've got a demon fox in me that makes my chakra so damn potent," grumbled Naruto loudly.

Sarutobi nearly dropped his pipe and burned himself with it. He slammed his hands on the desk and glared at Vincent. "You revealed that fact to Naruto!"

Once more Sarutobi felt unnerved and somewhat rattled when Vincent ever so slowly narrowed his eyes on him.

"He proved himself to be able to handle the weight of that knowledge. I saw no point in keeping him blind to it when all it would do was hamper his growth," said Vincent coldly. "If you have a problem with that, it is too late."

"Yeah, it isn't all that bad, jiji-san," smiled Naruto. "Tou-san has been helping me tame the furball."

"Tame...the Kyuubi?" gawked the Sandaime in awe.

"Not in the sense that you're making it out to sound," said Vincent. "I merely taught him how to keep it from influencing him should it try to manipulate him. Everything else he learned on his own...and he is quite efficient at handling the demon's trickery."

Naruto shrugged uncaringly. "It wasn't that hard once you got over how much the thing tries acting all big and bad whenever I speak to him. He's just full of hot air after that."

Sarutobi could only stare in silence at the boy. No one could have imagined that the greatest Bijuu beast could ever be considered tamed, but here was the lad that just proved that such a miracle could happen. Once he was able to pull himself together, he repacked his pipe and lit it with a match.

"Hmm, I see that you've progressed better than I would have thought outside Konoha, Naruto. It just proves that it was really the best choice after all," said Sarutobi, bringing his pipe to his lips and taking a slow, long draw from it. _'And it makes me wonder just how much you would have been denied such training had I foolishly kept you here...'_

"Thanks, jiji-san!" beamed Naruto, smiling once more. "If it's okay. Would it be all right if I go wonder around? I wanna see if anything's changed!"

"Sure, Naruto. I'll give Vincent all the information you'll need and I'll have you registered into the Academy by tomorrow," replied Sarutobi. "You'll start first thing then."

"What? I still gotta wait five months!?" groaned Naruto.

"Sorry, Naruto, but that's one rule I cannot change...but we'll see about the other ones. You go on along and enjoy yourself!" chuckled the old shinobi, feeling much better than he had in years since he let Naruto leave the village.

"All right...all right. I'll deal with five months. Just gives me more time to work on other things," said Naruto as he shrugged and left the office.

Vincent waited until he was sure his adopted son had departed before continuing the conversation. "...So about the rules you mentioned about seeing to?"

"Ah, yes. Where's I cannot change the date for his graduation. I think I can fix this bunshin problem," answered Sarutobi, sitting up from his desk and making his way toward the door. "Follow me, I'll show you what I mean...and in the mean time, you can tell this old man what he missed out while he was raised by you."

Vincent merely nodded and followed the Hokage to wherever he was walking to. There was much he needed to inform the old man about Naruto...but not too much; as one of the rules he adopted from this county: a shinobi keeps his secrets to himself. He would let his son reveal how much he learned when he deemed he needed to, otherwise, he would remain quiet about it. And he actually was relieved about the five month period Naruto would have to endure before the exam. It would give him time to meet people of his own village, get familiar with his old home...and it would give him time to make sure there weren't any threats that could harm his son. He stroked the black handle of his gun, _Cerberus_, as he kept alert of his surroundings.

_'This may be his home...but I wish he never came back to this place,'_ cursed Vincent silently in his mind.

He had wanted to keep Naruto away from Konoha as long as he could. Yet he was a man of his word and he had reluctantly promised the old man that he would bring him back to his homeland once he was old enough and trained enough. Now he just had to hope that he had trained Naruto enough and that whatever dangers await him would be easily handled with a pull of a trigger...

*************

Naruto's first stop was to get some lunch. He remembered one restaurant that had served him free food one time after he was kicked out of the orphanage. It had really good ramen and he was hoping that it was still really good. It didn't take long for him to find it and soon seat himself and wait for the redheaded waitress to take his order. He smiled at her, instantly remembering her as the same waitress that served him the free ramen when he last was here. Now he could pay for his meal and leave her a tip that he couldn't leave for her before.

"What will your order be, sir?" the redhead waitress asked politely, then quirked her left eyebrow up as she regarded the boy a bit closely. "Umm, you look kinda familiar. Have you been here a few times?"

Naruto smiled and pulled his cowl down so his whisker-marked cheeks were clearly visible. "I was here when I was six years old and only that one time. But I still remember the wonderful ramen the chef made. Was hoping he hadn't lost his touch."

The waitress blinked at him for a moment before she smiled brightly at him. "Oh! Now I remember! You're that kid that was living on his own. Oh, I'm glad to see you again! Judging by your attire and looks, you've been doing very well."

Naruto nodded to her. "Yeah, my adopted tou-san raised me well, and now, I'm ready to become a shinobi of Konoha!"

"You're gonna become a shinobi, huh?" the owner and chef of the restaurant grunted as he stepped out to see the young customer. "Hmm! Then this calls for one of my special bowls for a devoted customer and soon-to-be shinobi!"

"Devoted? I only ate here once," said Naruto with a look of confusion.

"You're a devoted customer because you came back to eat here, doesn't matter how long it's been. If my ramen was good enough for you to remember all these years, then come back for more when you could, that makes you devoted in my book!" stated the chef proudly, then rolled up his sleeves. "Ayame! Let's make this an extra special bowl!"

"Got it, tou-san!" agreed Ayame, moving into the back with her father to help prepare the food.

"Ah, you guys don't have to!" Naruto tried to reason with them.

"Shut up and stay in that seat!" the chef and Ayame shouted from the back before going back to work.

Naruto gulped and quickly went silent and patiently waited for the food they were working really hard to make special just for him. As he waited, he promised to himself that he'd work on truly becoming a devoted customer for them until he felt he earned that title, and he was one that kept whatever promise he made.

Just then, another customer entered the stand and took a seat on one of the stools next to Naruto. The man was dressed like the guards at the gates, leading the blonde to quickly deduce he was a chunin like them. He quickly eyed his features out of the corner of his sight. The man had black hair tied up above his head in a spiky ponytail fashion, had tanned skin and a rather long scar that ran almost perfectly horizontal across his face.

"Hey, Ayame-san! Can I get my usual?" the scarred chunin asked politely.

Ayame poked her head out and smiled at the chunin. "Sure thing, Iruka-san! I just have to help tou-san with this special order, then I'll get to work on yours!"

"Thanks," the man claimed as Iruka said, waving at her once, then turning his attention on the strange boy he sat next to.

"I guess that special order is for you, huh?" said Iruka, wishing to start a conversation with the young boy out of habit. He was a teacher after all and he liked talking to the young.

"Yeah, but I didn't ask them to make it for me. They're only doing it because I came here once when I was six, so I guess they feel they wanna make sure it was worth the wait before I came back," replied Naruto.

"Wow, that is something," gawked Iruka, never remembering the chef give anyone such special treatment, even to him, and he had been coming here to eat since he was a genin. Now curious about the boy, he worked on continuing the conversation. "You new here? I don't ever remember seeing someone like you in the village."

"Maybe not now, but I'm a local resident from this village," replied Naruto, eying the chunin with a calculating eye. "But I moved away after an 'incident' I got into. Been training since then and now I'm back to take the Genin Exam."

"Oh! So you're planning on becoming a shinobi of our village? That's great to hear!" said Iruka encouragingly before he gave the blonde a serious look. "I hope you understand what you're getting into. The life of a shinobi is a tough one, and you'll be risking your life every time you step out of it to take a mission." He didn't want to frighten the boy, but as a teacher and a chunin of Konoha, he had to let the boy know what he was getting into. The life of a shinobi was very dangerous and death was always around the corner for those unprepared to face it.

The blonde smirked at the chunin and tapped this left arm, which he kept hidden under his cape, with his right hand. "Touch my arm."

"Er, why?" asked Iruka.

"Just touch it...but don't pull my cape off it," instructed Naruto.

Shrugging, the scarred chunin decided to humor the boy and reached out to touch his arm. He didn't know what to expect, thinking the boy was pulling some weird prank on him, but when his fingers landed on where he believed the boy's arm to be, his eyes widened and he looked at the blonde.

"Is that some kind of armor?" asked Iruka curiously.

The blonde shook his head and gently pushed the chunin's hand away from his arm. "No, what you just felt is in fact my arm...or an artificial arm, I should say. The incident that I mentioned earlier cost me my arm. It was part of why I left the village, so I could get a replacement for it so I could become a shinobi and continue my dream."

"What dream is that, if you don't mind me asking?" asked Iruka, even more curiously about this interesting blonde sitting next to him.

"To become the next hokage, that's what," replied Naruto with a smile and confident look. "Not even losing a limb will stop me from my goal."

The scarred chunin found himself staring in complete awe at this boy. He was so sure of himself and spoke far more mature than his age would make anyone believe. _'I hope I get this kid in my class. He would be the perfect example for the rest of my students!' _He was so much in awe that he almost forgot one thing. "What kind of artificial arm do you have, can I see it?"

The boy instantly wrapped his cape more securely around his hidden arm. "...I don't really like showing it off. Also, a shinobi doesn't reveal all his secrets. I wanna save it for when it's the right time."

The chunin smiled approvingly and patted the boy's shoulder. "All right, that's all you had to say. You're really serious about being a shinobi."

"Believe it," said the blonde with a smirk.

"You're orders are up!" announced Ayame, coming out of the kitchen with their food. "Enjoy!"

The two grabbed their chopsticks and broke them open, Naruto using just his one hand. "Itadakimasu!!

They went silent while they ate. Iruka was amazed at how well the blonde was able to eat the large bowl of ramen with just one hand and keep the broth from splashing all over his cowl and cape. When he had finished with the contents in the bowl, he gracefully picked up the bowl and swallowed the broth wholeheartedly and still managed to keep from spilling a single drop. When he was done, he placed the bowl down and let out a happy sigh.

"Wow, that was good! Can I have another order of this, please?" asked Naruto politely.

The chef and Ayame beamed a bright smile at him and started working on another one for him. After his eighth bowl and Iruka's third one, he finally was full and patted his stomach.

"I haven't eaten good ramen like that anywhere! And I've been to a lot of ramen stands! This is the best restaurant ever!" cheered Naruto, smiling at the chef and the waitress.

The chef puffed out his chest with pride while the waitress smiled even more.

"Teuchi and his daughter run one of the finest stands in Konoha. I come here whenever I can," said Iruka, adding to the praise.

"Mmm, well, if I'm gonna have to wait five months before the exam, then at least I'll have a great place to look forward to after classes," said Naruto, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a wallet. "How much do I owe?"

The chef waved his hand at the wallet. "Put that away! This is a celebration for your return to Konoha, so tonight it's on the house!"

"Thanks, Teuchi-san, Ayame-san!" Naruto smiled, nodded his thanks to them, but then pulled out some a large bill from his wallet and tossed it in the tip jar. "But I at least should leave a tip for all the trouble." He quickly waved and got off his stool and left the stand.

"Hey wait!" called out Iruka, poking his head out of the stand.

"Hmm?" replied Naruto, turning around to him.

"What's your name, kid? I never got it," shouted out Iruka.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. My name is Valentine-Uzumaki Naruto!" replied the blonde and waved once more and started back down the road.

Iruka's face paled in shock, nearly falling right out of the stool he was leaning off of. "...Uzumaki?!" He managed to right himself on the stool and began staring at his empty bowl in amazement, then slowly, he looked up at Teuchi and Ayame. "Was that really the Uzumaki kid?"

"Never got his name but he did eat here once before that nasty incident he mentioned, then he left with his adopted father," informed Ayame. "He's still a really sweet kid. Never would believe all the nasty things everyone has ever called him. He's just too nice."

"Y-Yeah...I never got a single impression he was anything else," uttered Iruka, still not believing that he had shared a friendly conversation with the Nine-Tails vessel and not in the least bit uncomfortable around him. "...I think I greatly misunderstood a lot about that boy, too. There's no way he can be the fox..."

"As far as I'm concerned, that was just a boy who knows great ramen when he eats it," replied Teuchi, starting to clean off the counter. "If there was an ounce of evil from the fox in him like everyone says, I will never believe a word from them."

Iruka began smiling and grinned at them all. "Yeah, neither would I now."

"Good, the first bowl will be free but the other two you'll have to pay for," Ayame smiled sweetly.

"Whaa!? Oh man...Ah well, at least one bowl was free," Iruka moaned, pulling out the money to pay off his meal.

"Thank you as always, Iruka-san!" Ayame beamed at him, happily taking his money and then helping her father with cleaning the counter.

Iruka just chuckled and rested his chin in his hand as his mind started contemplating about the blonde. "Heh, I think these next five months are gonna prove every interesting."

************

Vincent had just left the Hokage's tower, tucking a small scroll into a secret pocket in his cape. After he left the tower, he wasn't at all surprised to see the glares from the villagers. He already suspected such a response when he brought Naruto back, including at himself. After all, he had adopted what this village had labeled a monster, a living reminder of the horror they all were forced to suffer, so it was only natural they would now start targeting him as well. Not that he cared; his only worry was if he had enough bullets to handle the ones foolish enough to take him on, or go after his adopted son. If only they could see past their fear and realize there wasn't anything at all to be really afraid of...if only they knew his son like he did.

_'My son. You will have a long trial ahead of you to show these people you are not the demon but the hero your...your real father wanted you to be,'_ thought Vincent sadly as he strolled down the road.

He needed to find a place to stay. The Hokage was _generous_ enough to keep Naruto's old apartment waiting for him when he returned, but Vincent would have nothing to do with it. The place would only be a reminder for him and Naruto of the treatment he had to suffer when he was here. As it was, it took everything for Vincent to stay in this village and take his son back to Edge to live where he was really loved; not this place of bad memories and pain. Also, it was only meant for one person, anyway. It made him angry that the old man actually thought to put Naruto back in that lonely apartment by himself again when he returned. But luckily he kept himself composed in front of the Hokage enough to get the item that would aid Naruto in passing the exam he seemed so determined to take. That was one of the things that made him fond of the boy so much.

He was truly passionate and determined in his goal it was almost unreal. After he brought him to Midgar, where the WRO was in the process of taking any possible material they could find to aid in building the city of Edge, and where the WRO had secretly set up a temporary base until they finished constructing a new one after Deepground's heavy assault; Naruto was focused on getting his new arm so he could begin training himself to become a great shinobi for Konoha. He absorbed himself in his training and hardly anything else. It moved Vincent so much that he and the rest of the old AVALANCHE team found themselves helping him wherever they could. The boy had such an effect on them all, even Cloud's usual broodish attitude was lightened and on some occasions got to laugh. He was a ray of hope and the more he watched him grow, the more he began to see him as the child he would have wished to have with his lost-love, Lucreisa.

Maybe this was The Planet's way of granting him that very wish to make up for the suffering and loss. Whatever the case, he was glad Naruto was in his life and would see his son reach his goal.

He came to a sudden halt when a group of villagers moved to block his way.

"Hey, you!" shouted one of the villagers, pointing at him. "Did you come into this village with that demon?"

Vincent just stared silently at the rude villager.

"I asked you a question, moron!" the villager growled, reaching for something behind his back.

Before he could pull whatever it was he was reaching for, Vincent had disappeared from their sight and reappeared right before the villager, Cerberus drawn and the tri-barrels resting right on the villager's forehead.

"I will only state this once. Pass the word to everyone in this village. Anyone who comes near Naruto or me with harmful intent will be dealt with lethally. I will not allow anyone to harm my son like he had been last time," stated Vincent with a cold, deadly tone, lightly squeezing the trigger to show he was not bluffing.

"H-Hey! D-Don't kill me!" quivered the villager, remember the rumors of how some of the villagers were killed by a bizarre weapon. He guessed this was that same weapon that was used to end their life.

"Yeah, if you harm one of us, you and that demon brat will be arrested and most likely executed," sneered another villager.

"I doubt it as I have diplomatic immunity as I belong to the WRO," replied Vincent plainly.

"Y-You're bluffing!" cried the villager he had at gun-point.

Vincent narrowed his eyes as he slowly began squeezing the trigger slightly more.

"Stop! Okay, we get it!" shouted one of the villagers in the group with fear in his voice. "We won't mess with you..."

Vincent continued squeezing the trigger.

"ALL RIGHT! We won't mess with the demon brat, either!" screamed the scared villager.

Vincent stopped and loosened his finger on the trigger. "Remember that...and make sure everyone else know. Or the next time, you will see the end of this gun right before it takes your life away."

He withdrew the gun from the villager, who fell on his rear in a panic and started frantically crawling away from the Ex-Turk. The rest of the villagers quickly darted away and those that had been watching quickly returned to what they were doing, hoping the stranger didn't notice them. Vincent holstered Cerberus and was about to be on his way when he felt a presence watching him from above.

"You can show yourself, shinobi," said Vincent calmly.

As he finished speaking, a purpled-haired kunoichi in a tan overcoat and fish-net body-suit and a orange skirt, dropped down from the rafter she was holding onto, landing right in front of the gunman.

"Damn! I've never seen anyone scare these piss-ants like you did, ever!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Vincent regarded her with a silent look before he spoke. "Who are you?"

"Direct, aren't you? That's fine by me. My name is Mitarashi Anko!" said the kunoichi. "The Hokage wanted someone to make sure no one messed with you while you're here, so he sent me."

"Why you?" asked Vincent.

"Simple, because everyone knows my reputation...and what I'll do to them if they get on my bad side," stated Anko with a sinister smile that reminded Vincent of a very poisonous snake.

"That won't be needed. I can handle matters on my own," said Vincent confidentially.

"Yeah, I saw! Wow, you had that one guy peeing in his pants!" laughed Anko.

Vincent fell silent and started to go on his way when Anko grabbed his arm. "Hey, handsome. You looking for a place to stay, right?"

He was about to ask her how she knew, but then he remembered what she was and was probably informed by the Hokage before he sent her to watch him.

"I am..."

"Well, it just so happens that an apartment next to mine was just vacated," informed Anko, smiling too sweetly. "The last occupant suffered from a very tragic accident."

"In other words, he did something to make you mad and you dealt with him accordingly," deduced Vincent.

"Let's just say...no one, not even when they're drunk, should think to mess with me," winked Anko with that smile still on her face. "Besides, that last guy was ugly as hell. You on the other hand....Mmm, will be nice eye candy to see around."

Vincent nearly rolled his eyes. "Take me to this vacant apartment. I imagine I'll have better luck with this place than I would anywhere after that incident."

"That's for sure. You'll probably get banned before you can even ask for a place to live," agreed Anko, wrapping her arms around his and tugging on it. "Come on, handsome. I'll lead the way."

Vincent reluctantly let himself be half-dragged by this weird woman to wherever her apartment complex was, hoping that he wasn't making a serious mistake by following her...

************

Naruto had visited all the places he remembered from his earlier years, gladden that none of them changed. One of the places was the orphanage, a place he spent only a few seconds glancing at before he made his way quickly to another location...his old apartment. He found the place in slightly disrepair, as some of the walls were covered with graffiti and some of the windows were broken, but all-in-all the place hadn't suffered much. Using one of the broken windows, he easily entered his apartment and roamed the shallow, dirty place, seeing all his old furniture was still there. He wondered if he and his father would stay here for a brief moment, but then smirked as he knew Vincent wouldn't tolerate this. This place was only meant for one person, anyway, and he knew Vincent would want a place where he was near him at all times, and statically set so they had the advantage should anyone attack them.

That was one of his first lessons from the Ex-Turk. He engrained just how important it was to always have the advantage when it came to anything; whereas it would be in a fight, a place, even when just walking down a street, always make sure you had the advantage. Hence why his tou-san always carried Cerberus and his Materia with him at all times. He was always prepared for the worst-case scenario should it ever occur.

That one lesson saved his life more times than he could count, and he knew it would greatly help his shinobi career.

Just then, a ringtone of chocobos chirping went off. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an orange cell-phone with a red spiral pattern on it. "Naruto, here. What's up, Tou-san?"

"Found a place for us to stay, seems reasonable and its set at the end of a street and close to a large forest, so should things get ugly, we have an escape route," replied Vincent's voice from his cell.

"Cool, give me the address and I'll head over there now," said Naruto, already exiting out of the broken window.

Vincent gave him the address and Naruto was down on the street and making his way to his new apartment, when suddenly a trail of kicked up dust was speeding toward him. The odd phenomenon was almost upon him and he just had enough time to sidestep and hear the most high-pitch voice he had ever heard in his life.

"_FORGET IT INO-PIG!!! SASUKE-KUN WILL BE MINE AFTER HE TRIES THIS LUNCH-BOX, I MADE FOR HIM!_" shrieked the voice from the dust trail just before a platinum blonde girl came tumbling out of it.

The blonde girl slammed into a trash-can right next to Naruto, who caught a small purple lunch-box that had came flying at him when the girl fell.

_"SAKURA, YOU BOARD-HEADED CHEATER!!!"_ screamed the blonde after she regained her senses.

"Umm, are you okay?" asked Naruto.

The blonde girl picked herself up and started dusting her clothes off. "Yeah, I'm fine...I'm fine...just wait till I get my hands on that big foreheaded...c-chea..." she began to trail off when she looked up, her face instantly reddening upon seeing the darkly dressed blonde.

"Umm, here I think this might be yours," said Naruto politely when she didn't continue, handing her the lunch-box.

"Er, y-yeah, thanks!" uttered the blonde girl as she reached out timidly to take her lunch-box back. "Umm, are you new here?"

"Not really. I was born here, but I've been away for a while," replied Naruto in a matter-of-fact tone. "I just got here today."

"R-Really!" said the girl.

Naruto nodded, looking ready to leave. "Yeah, well...I guess I'll see you around, umm...?"

"OH! My name is Yamanaka Ino!" replied the blonde girl quickly.

"Nice name, I'm Valentine-Uzumaki Naruto," replied Naruto with a small bow of his head. "Take care, and I hope things work out for...well, whatever was going on there."

"Heh, heh, yeah...thanks!" said Ino to the departing boy. "...Valentine-Uzumaki Naruto, hmm...I'll remember that name."

*************

Five minutes later, Naruto was in his new apartment with his tou-san. The place was relatively clean and already was supplied with furniture and two bedrooms. "Hmm, this seems like a nice place. How did you find it?"

"A shinobi who was watching me told me about this place. Same person is also now our new neighbor, but I'd advise caution around her," said Vincent.

"Why? Is she dangerous?" asked Naruto.

"Not in the sense you're thinking. Imagine Yuffie if she was actually serious in causing harm to someone and liked it," said Vincent, inwardly shuddering at the comparison.

Naruto was quick to shudder himself as that mental image ran through his mind. "Now that is dangerous."

Vincent nodded and pulled out his cell-phone. "I'll call Reeves and let him know things are fine for the moment. Then tomorrow while you're at the Academy, I'll see to getting this apartment set for us." He reached into his cape and pulled out a small scroll and handed it to his son. "This is for you from the Hokage. He said this would help you with the bunshin problem you've been having."

"Awesome!" cheered Naruto, quickly taking the scroll and opening it, already beginning to read its contents.

Vincent smirked as his son walked idly to the couch to study the scroll. Once he had a new jutsu, he would block out everything around him and focus on just learning the jutsu. He watched the intense look on Naruto's face for a moment before seeing he was fine and moved to take inventory that he'll need to supply up on.

An hour later, he saw Naruto was still on the couch reading the scroll, probably for the twentieth time to make sure he understood everything about the jutsu.

"Naruto, it's getting late. You need rest before tomorrow," said Vincent, walking over to him.

"Hmm? Oh, I guess," uttered Naruto blankly, then rolled up the scroll and smiled widely at Vincent. "This jutsu is awesome! It makes real solid clones instead of illusions, and what's more, anything the clones learn, I'll learn too when they dispel!"

This bit of news greatly impressed Vincent. "Hmm, maybe I've misguided the old man some. Speaking of him, he wanted me to inform you that once you've mastered that jutsu, destroy that scroll. It's a village secret and too important to be lying around."

"In that case," replied Naruto right before he tossed the scroll into the air. His left arm shot out from under the cape and then quickly retreated back under his cape. In the air slowly fell shredded remains of the scroll. "I've got the hand-signs memorizes, I'll practice the jutsu when I get the chance after class tomorrow."

Vincent nodded in approval. "Fine, but clean up the mess, then go to bed."

"Huh?" muttered Naruto before looking down at the remains of the scroll. "Oh...heh, heh! Okay, tou-san."

************

A/N: There you have it. Naruto is back in Konoha and things will never be the same again. Let me know what you think and I'll have the next update out soon. Till then...


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or Final Fantasy VII, if I did, I would be rich enough to find a place away from all world strife and annoyance and enjoy life to the fullest!

**A/N:** I wish to thank everyone who reviewed and for your kind words. I hope my next ones will continue to be so and for anyone to give constructive ones that could help make this a better story.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Naruto was up and early before the crack of dawn. He was preparing everything he might need for his first day at the Academy, then fixed himself a small breakfast, not worrying about making much for his tou-san as the man hardly ate anything, and when he did, it was just a few bites of something. He finished up and cleaned the dishes before he set out to the place. He stealthy made his way to the Academy, keeping to the shadows as he did, a habit his tou-san had drilled into his head when he started training him. Vincent had wanted him to become undetectable at will when he needed to be, and knowing that he would return to his home, Naruto could easily see the logic behind his reason.

He wasn't eager to lose another limb, after all...

This village had proven it had only ill-initiations for him, but he was bound to show them that he was not the fox, but a loyal shinobi of Konoha, and someday become the greatest Hokage the world had ever seen. Also, if he became Hokage, he could submit a friendlier alliance between Konoha and Wutai, who were still enraged after they learned how they treated a small boy for something he could not control. Yuffie had taken it as her personal mission to see that he became a great shinobi, and trained him in the Wutai style after he had gotten his artificial arm in Edge. The girl was loud and over-confident about things and loved to boast about how awesome she was, but after the first week of training with her, Naruto quickly understood that she really was telling the truth. Her skills were beyond what she really showed her friends and when in secret, she wasn't as loud and obnoxious as Vincent had first made him believe. She was really self-aware of herself and worked to the bone to stay as sharp as a blade.

He promised he wouldn't tell anyone what she really was like when no one else was around, and the two had become best of friends, especially after he had gone on a few...Materia _scavenging_ trips with her. Her excuse was that in order to be a good shinobi, he would need to learn everything there was from stealth, to killing, and to stealing. To her, getting someone's Materia was the highest challenge when it came to the last trait. And after Naruto had tried a few times himself, he quickly saw that she was right. People back in Edge and Wutai were overly protective of their Materia and guarded it with their lives as best as they could. To them, there was no bigger treasure than a Materia, so trying to get one from someone was extremely difficult. Yuffie had let him practice on her during his training trip in Wutai with her, but she never let him try stealing any from the citizens. That was her one firm rule. Never steal Materia from your own people.

When he was good enough to get it off her without her noticing, which was the toughest three weeks in his life, as she proved to be insanely protective of any Materia she owned. Once he was able to get them off her without her noticing, she said he was ready, and gave him a secret mission when he returned to Edge to _acquire_ whatever Materia he found. He chuckled at the times he had pulled one over on the gangs that migrated from Midgar to Edge. He left the citizens alone, as they needed the Materia too much for their own protection. But anyone who tried to hurt others or steal was up for grabs, and boy, did he get them good. What he did with his stolen goods was either give to Yuffie, who was always so excited to see the bags he would have for her, or keep for himself and Vincent.

He wasn't too excited to find out that he was helping Yuffie pursue her old habit again, but after he explained that he only targeted people that misused Materia, he backed off and let him continue, so long as he didn't try to take any of his Materia.

Naruto hoped that the training would come in handy for whatever awaited him in the Academy. He truly wanted to do the best he could and show this village that he was one of them, not the demon the all feared. He didn't hold it against the entire village for the loss of his arm, the people responsible had already paid dearly...

Shaking that memory away, he found himself in front of the Academy.

"Huh...I was expecting something bigger," Naruto mumbled to himself as he glanced up at the average looking building. "...Looks more like a normal school than an Academy for shinobi. Man, this is disappointing..."

"Naruto?"

The black-clad blonde turned around to see Iruka walking up to the Academy gates, smiling and waving at him.

"Oh, hi Iruka-san," replied Naruto, giving him a brief wave.

"I see you're a morning person like me, huh?" chuckled Iruka.

"Kinda, yeah," said Naruto. "So, I'm guessing you're one of the academy instructors here, right?"

Iruka smiled. "You got it."

"Cool. Maybe I'll get put into your class," said Naruto with a wide smile.

_'Already taken care of. After talking to the Hokage, he agreed to put you in my class...actually, I didn't have to do much convincing. I think he was planning on putting you in my class anyway.'_ thought Iruka, as he reached into his pocket to unlock the gates. "Well, let me get this open and then I can show you around."

"Okay," agreed Naruto.

Iruka quickly got the gate opened and guided Naruto into the building and began giving him a brief tour of the place and where everything was at, ending the tour with his classroom.

"Why don't you go ahead and pick a seat. I'll get you some scrolls you'll need to read up on to catch up with the rest of the class," said Iruka.

"I've already read all the history books that the Hokage sent to me and all the basic Academic skills required to pass the test. I'm ready to be a genin now, but because of a technicality, I have to spend five months in here before I can take the blasted test," stated Naruto with a frown, then blinked for a moment as he realized what Iruka said. "You already knew I was gonna be in your class?"

Iruka smirked at the blonde. "Sorry for not telling you. I didn't expect you to be here so early."

Naruto shrugged. "No harm, no foul."

He looked at the seating order and picked a seat in the very back, wishing to keep a full view of the entire classroom, just in case someone tried something. It would give him enough time to make sure they regretted it before they could pull it off. The classroom began to light up as the sun rose higher and he could hear excited voices as the students began arriving. He watched calmly as each person walked into the room, regarding them critically and evaluating them as potential threats...or maybe potential friends. He hadn't really made friends with anyone back in Edge around his age, so meeting people who were would be a great treat for him, or so he hoped. One by one, the students assigned into the classroom arrived and took their seat in their respective spots. One guy with a spiky ponytail and bored expression walked right up and sat next to him after he glanced at him for a few moments with a curious look.

"You new here?" asked the student, scratching the underside of his chin.

"Yes, I am," replied Naruto.

"Hmm," murmured the boy as he continued to gaze at him, then immediately put his head down and looked as if he was going right to sleep.

Not sure how to regard this boy, Naruto remained silent to allow the boy to sleep, but kept him in his sight out of the corner of his eye.

A round-sized boy came up and took a seat right next to the sleeping student and waved cheerfully at him after he stuffed his mouth full of potato chips. He swallowed and said, "Hey there!"

Naruto nodded, then glanced down at the sleeping student. "Does he always take a nap during class?"

"Shikamaru? Oh, all the time! He's barely conscious around this time and won't be until Iruka gets everyone's attention, then he'll go right back to sleep. By the way, I'm Akimicki Choji!" replied the round-sized boy.

"I'm Valentine-Uzumaki Naruto," introduced Naruto, bowing his head slightly to him. "It's nice to meet a friendly person here."

Choji stopped eating and stared at the blonde before blushing some and waving his compliment off. "Think nothing of it."

Naruto smiled again and began chatting with Choji as the rest of the students found their seats. One of the last to enter the room was a boy with spiked up black hair that reminded Naruto of a bird, or a ducks behind. He glanced up once and his brooding eyes stopped and locked on Naruto. His black eyes narrowed and he marched up to him and stared at him for a good minute. Naruto, much to Choji and Shikamaru; who had really been awake the whole time and listening to their conservation, interest, the blonde just stared right back in silence patiently. The boy scuffed at him finally, mumbling something under this breath and made his way to his seat. Naruto stared at the boy some more and then turned to Choji.

"Who is that?"

"...That's Uchiha Sasuke. This year's expected Rookie of the Year," grumbled Choji begrudgingly.

"I'm assuming he's not liked?" pondered Naruto.

"Oh, he's not liked at all...he's _respected_ by everyone as he's the last of his clan," said Shikamaru, opening his eyes and looking right at Naruto. "His clan was massacred by one of his own family members, his brother I believe. But the whole incident has made the whole village regard him like royalty, as his clan was one of our elite ones."

"_The_ elite clan," snapped Sasuke, glancing over his shoulder and glaring at Shikamaru. "You will inform the new guy correctly, Nara."

Shikamaru shrugged uncaringly. "What a drag...Anyways, just ignore him, Naruto. Since the incident, he's been the favored boy of Konoha, even by the council and it's gone to his head."

"Oh, so he's a spoiled, ungrateful brat," said Naruto bluntly to the shock of the whole class.

Sasuke leapt from his seat and glared hatefully at Naruto. "What did you just call me, you nobody!"

Naruto calmly addressed the Uchiha. "I'm merely stating what is a fact. If you're taking offense to that, then you really need to work on controlling that anger of yours. That will get you killed when you are on a mission for the village."

"Don't patronize me, loser," growled Sasuke threateningly.

"I'm not patronizing you, I'm telling you what you need to know before it's too late," replied Naruto calmly.

Sasuke snarled. "You know nothing of me, except what that lazy excuse for a clan heir just told you."

"Maybe not all of it, but he hit the key marks it seems. Also, I know about anger and what it can do to people...more so than anyone in this entire village," said Naruto. "But that's not a story for a spoiled brat to hear."

"Why you!" snapped Sasuke and he charged straight at Naruto.

Iruka had rushed to stop the Uchiha but came to a halt and stared in amazement when he saw Naruto throw a smoke bomb at Sasuke's face. Not expecting the bomb to be thrown at him, it struck him right in the face and exploded, enveloping the room in grey smoke. Iruka and everyone coughed and waved their arms around to blow the smoke away from them. When it disbursed, their first breath was a gasp when they saw Naruto standing over Sasuke who was lying on his back with Naruto pinning him down by his throat with a dark-orange plated boot, much like his tou-san like to wear but in place of the spike over the toes, his was just a plate-cover.

This was the scene that one Yamanaka Ino and her rival Haruno Sakura came around as they rushed into the room.

"HAH! I beat you, fore...head...WHAT THE HELL?" screamed Ino as she saw the love of her life pinned down by the boy she remembered meeting yesterday.

Upon seeing her, Naruto smiled and waved. "Morning, Ino-san."

Ino marched right up to him and was about to punch him when Shikamaru got between them. "Don't be a fan-girl right now, Ino. The new guy was protecting himself when Sasuke attacked him."

"Wha...why would Sasuke-kun attack him?" gasped Ino.

"Because he told the truth," replied Shikamaru. "How he lets his temper get the better of him, as we _ALL_ know he does."

"Sasuke-kun can control it just fine! It's when bakas like you and people like _him_ mess with him," snapped Sakura, glaring daggers at Naruto.

"So it's okay for him to attack and hurt his fellow comrades...and we're just to take it like grateful peasants?" said Naruto lowly, staring down at the struggling Uchiha with distain.

"Uh, yes? I mean, no! The point is you shouldn't be hurting him, now get your foot off Sasuke-kun!" demanded Sakura.

Naruto leveled his gaze at her, which she immediately flinched when she saw the coldness in his bright blue eyes. He raised his plated foot off Sasuke and jumped off his desk, just to duck when Sasuke swept his knee at the back of his head. This was when Iruka reached him and grabbed the Uchiha before he could do anymore and had him in a choke hold.

"Enough of this! Sasuke, you've got detention for the next two weeks for attacking a student," snarled Iruka.

"That's not fair! That baka over there caused this!" screamed Sakura.

"For a girl with your intelligence, Sakura, you can really be dense when it comes to Sasuke," retorted Iruka. "I saw the whole thing, so I know what happened before you got here. There is no excuse for attacking another student, especially a new student...now..." His head suddenly enlarged and a large burst of KI came from him when he let go of Sasuke. "_EVERYONE OF YOU LITTLE SHITS GET INTO YOUR SITS_!"

Quick as lightning, everyone, even Naruto, was in there seats and staring in fear at their instructor.

_'What the hell kinda of a jutsu is that?'_ gawked Naruto, staring with wonder at Iruka.

"Okay, this wasn't how I expected the day to start," said Iruka, running a hand over his face. "Okay, class...as he made himself quite aware to you all, this is our new student...would you like to introduce yourself to the rest of the class, Naruto?"

Naruto stood up and addressed the class. "My name is Valentine-Uzumaki Naruto, returning to his home village from an extended training- medical trip to become a shinobi and protect it from any who dare wish to harm it." As he finished his short speech, the pupils of his eyes thinned into lines and deepened to a dark red, giving him a intimating feral look.

Ino, who had taken her normal seat, when she couldn't get one next to Sasuke, next to Choji and Shikamaru saw the change of his eyes and couldn't stop the blush that came over her cheeks.

Naruto sat back down in his seat and his eyes returned to normal.

"Hey? What did you mean by training-medical trip?" asked Sakura.

"...I was in an accident that resulted in a severe injury that cost me my left arm," said Naruto lowly, touching his new arm unconsciously under his cape.

"So you're a maimed loser? How do you plan on being a shinobi with just one arm?" sneered Sasuke smugly, glancing over his shoulder at the blonde.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the suck up Uchiha. "As I said, I left the village for training and medical reasons, if you paid attention you'd have figured out that."

Sasuke scoffed at him and looked away.

"Anyway, it's not something I'm proud of showing," said Naruto, walking to the front of the classroom. "But as it would be pointless to try and hide it as I'll be using it to fight and train...I might as well show you all."

Iruka leaned forward some. He had wanted to see the arm that the blonde was so self-conscious about since he first touched it, as did the rest of the class. Whipping his cape to the side, Naruto raised up his arm and wasn't surprised by the collective gasp and awe. From his shoulder down, was a black cybernetic arm. Over the forearm and hand were dark orange plates fashioned much like his tou-san's gold gauntlet, and like that gauntlet, Naruto's hand ended with long claws. It was also when his cape settled behind him that the rest of his attire came to full view. He had on baggy black pants and a leather shirt with belt and buckles strapped around his waist. Strapped to his right leg was a dark orange holster and black gun in similar design to the _Cerberus _model, but this one had a few added features.

Sasuke quickly eyed the strange weapon, taking a deep interest to it. From what he could tell from within its holster, the barrels of the gun holster had blades along it like a kunai edge, the chain hanging off the hilt was designed like a snake with a shuriken shaped like a lion's head with goat horn shaped blades.

"What is that?" demanded Sasuke, not understanding the purpose of the weapon or its odd designs.

"This...is a handgun. A common weapon outside the Elemental Nations," answered Naruto, placing his normal hand on it. "It is a unique weapon much like my tou-san, Vincent Valentine, but this model is called _Chimera_. Called that for the tri-barrels it has, because the creature its named after has three heads of separate creatures, a lion, a goat, and a snake...and was considered very lethal and had their own unique usage when the beast attacked. And like that creature, this gun has three usage, but none of you will see them."

This peeked the last Uchiha's interest more and wondered just how it was used, thinking such a tool might come in handy when he confronted the person responsible for all his pain. _'This loser might be useful if I can learn how he uses that thing...'_

Naruto easily spotted the look in the Uchiha's eyes and did not like it at all. "I have one thing I wish everyone to know...never touch my gun. That is my only warning."

"And if one of us does, baka?" grumbled Sakura, taking more interest with her nails than his warning.

Naruto smirked and it held no humor in it. He flexed his claws and flickered his fingers together, making a scissor sound clear in the air. "Then you find out how I use this arm..."

Sakura gulped and stared at those metal talons, as did the rest of the class.

"Okay, enough of that. I think that was more than needed for an introduction..." said Iruka irritably.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei, but that warning is for their own safety. This weapon is too dangerous for someone not trained in it," said Naruto, then walked back to his seat next to Shikamaru.

The lazy genius eyed his weapon curiously as Naruto sat down and leaned forward enough to whisper. "Just how dangerous is that thing?"

Naruto studied him for a moment, looking for any signs of treachery in him, but looking in his eyes he could tell he was just curious. Naruto smiled at him and leaned toward him. "After class, I'll show you. This is a weapon better shown in action than an explanation can give."

Shikamaru nodded in thanks and for the first time since he started the Academy, he was wide awake and excited.

"C-Could we come along, too?" asked Ino, having heard some of their conversation.

Naruto smiled at her. "Sure, even you Choji-san, if you wanna."

"M-Me? You're actually including me?" gawked the big-boned genin.

"Why not? You're the first friends I've made," replied Naruto, smiling genuinely.

Ino blushed at the compliment and to her and Shikamaru's amazement, Choji handed Naruto...a chip.

"Want some? Get's kinda dull in here without a snack."

"Thanks!" said Naruto, happily taking the chip and munched on it quietly.

Iruka smiled inwardly at the sight and was happy to see his new student already making friends...even if he just made a few enemies at the same time. The look on Sasuke's brooding face cautioned him to keep his eye on the spoiled brat and Sakura, knowing she'd do anything to put her in good light with the Uchiha, and sadly, every other fan girl that was after the Uchiha, save one. Hyuga Hinata. The heiress was the only girl in his class, or in the entire Academy, that wasn't trying to get the Uchiha. She was one of the few girls that took her career seriously, even if she had some self-confidence issues. She was still a skilled kunoichi in the making. He brought his attention to the heiress and was surprised to see her looking up at Naruto with a look of awe.

_'...So much for one girl in my class being a fan-girl,_' thought Iruka depressively.

Hinata had kept her eye on the blonde the moment she came into the classroom. Her tou-san had mentioned a woman a long time ago who saved her life from an attempted kidnapping, and was accompanied by a mysterious man. When the blonde gave his name, she immediately recognized the name Valentine. Then she remembered her tou-san saying that he had saved a boy that same night she was saved, she quickly deduced that this was the rescued boy.

_'He's very handsome...and so confident!'_ thought Hinata in admiration. _'I need to tell tou-san about him!'_

Iruka immediately started the class, going over some key tactical exercises that were used during the three Great Shinobi wars, then by noon broke for lunch.

* * *

On top of the Academy, Naruto had accompanied Shikamaru and Choji up to the roof to hang out during lunch, where he quickly learned was their favorite spot to get away from everyone. They informed him they weren't among the popular students, like their friend Ino was, but because they were clan heirs they were given enough respect to be left alone. Sadly, that literally left them completely alone as neither cared or tried to make friends with the other kids in their class. After a little while, the two were shocked to see Ino come up on the roof and join them.

"Hi, guys!" greeted Ino, taking a seat next to them.

Shikamaru glanced away from his cloud-watching, a hobby he loved more than sleeping. "Surprised you're hanging out with us, Ino. Aren't you afraid of Sakura getting ahead of you for the Uchiha's affections?"

Ino blushed in embarrassment and didn't meet his eyes. "...W-Well, I thought I'd come up and get to know the new guy. I mean, if he hangs out with you two for too long, he'll never make any other friends."

"Whatever," grumbled Shikamaru and returned to his cloud-watching.

"So...that lunch-box you made was for that guy, huh?" said Naruto, starting up conversation.

"Uh...er, y-yeah, it was," replied Ino.

"I'm just curious, but what is it that you like about him?" asked Naruto in curiosity.

"Because he's so cool! He's smart, mysterious, and is so handsome! He's the perfect man!" beamed Ino, getting a bright gleam in her eyes as she thought about the man of her dreams.

"Oh, is that all," murmured Naruto, looking up to join Shikamaru in cloud-watching.

"Is that all?" shrieked Ino angrily, then pumped her fist up and looked ready to use it. "What the hell is with that tone?"

"Is she bi-polar?" asked Naruto.

"I wonder at times," replied Shikamaru, sighing heavily.

"HEY!" screamed Ino.

"Sorry, no offense, Ino...but there's more to someone than their looks and status," said Naruto blankly.

"Wha...what do you mean?" wondered Ino.

"Sure, he's the last of his clan and probably has anger issues over the fact that it was his own brother that killed his entire family. But do you see him doing anything to ease that anger?" stated Naruto, giving her a piercing look with his bright blue eyes. "No, he's holding it all in and letting it fester into something bad. No one has helped him with his anger, and he's not bound to let anyone as everyone's let him do what he wants for too long. He's spoiled, Ino. He won't rest until he gets what he wants and with his anger ruling him, he'll do whatever it takes to get what he wants, even use everyone around him."

"Oh, and you're an expert on this?" snapped Ino.

Naruto raised his arm, his artificial arm. "See this, Ino? I lost this arm due to people who let their anger rule them. They could not let go of it and let it do things that no human should do to another, especially a child. I know what anger does to people and I don't ever want to see anyone ever get hurt because of it...And I don't want Sasuke to take his anger out on people like you who do care about him."

Ino froze right then. All her anger she had was instantly gone and replaced with admiration and sadness for the blonde. He was better than an expert, he was living proof of what he talked about. She realized he was just trying to help her, but she let her own fascination with Sasuke get the best of her...like always to allow herself to see that truth.

"What exactly happened to your arm?" asked Ino suddenly, reaching out and touching his cybernetic arm.

Naruto stiffened but followed her hand when it touched his metallic arm. "...I was attacked by some civilians and a Chunin of this village for something that I had no control over. They blamed me for something bad that happened here." He worded himself carefully, he didn't wish for his new friends to find out about his tenant if he could help it. He wanted to be normal in their eyes, even if for a little while.

"Must have been pretty bad...for them to hurt a child like that," remarked Choji as he munched on another chip and looked at the arm.

"How old were you...when this happened?" asked Ino, running a finger over the plate.

"Six..." answered Naruto quietly.

Shikamaru studied Naruto's arm and his words. He knew instinctively that Naruto was holding back information, but he wondered just what was so bad that the villagers would make him suffer for it. It also left a sour taste in his mouth that people in his own village would do something this horrible to one of their own. He knew he wouldn't be able to look at any of the civilians the same way ever again.

"Why did you come back, then? I mean, if people did this to you, why would you intentionally come back to the place that caused you this much grief?" said Ino, voicing the question that was going through the lazy genius's head.

"To prove that I'm not the thing they blame me for. That I'm Valentine-Uzumaki Naruto, a loyal shinobi of Konoha and that I will give the rest of my body to protect those who are precious to me," replied Naruto, not aware that he had just inspired his three new friends.

What's more, he just made a very deep impression on the platinum blonde still touching his arm. She could not help but feel overwhelmed by his conviction. He let go of the suffering he had been forced to go through, and instead of wishing pain on others, he chose to protect those very people. It also brought on a new light on her object of affection, Sasuke.

_'Maybe he's right about Sasuke...no matter what everyone has tried, he just pushed them away or glares at them. I've tried everything to get him to notice me and forget his pain. But he doesn't let it go...maybe I'm wasting my time,'_ thought Ino, seriously not wishing to believe she had indeed wasted so much time and energy to get her ideal man. _'Is he really my ideal man? Hell yeah, he's hot and cool. A genius and most likeliest to make Rookie of the Year...but is he really the man I want? Will he really let someone close to him?'_

She drew her hand back and sat up. "I need to go...I'll see you in class." She then quickly left.

"...Did I say something to upset her?" wondered Naruto, looking worried.

Shikamaru smirked and folded his hands behind his head. "Nah, you just made her actually think for once about her view of things."

"Is that a good thing?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah, man...it is a really good thing," replied Shikamaru, watching a huge puffy cloud sail over the sun and provide a nice cool shade for them.

* * *

Ino had made her way down to the courtyard where she usually had lunch, so she could be closer to Sasuke, as he usually ate his lunch alone under the trees, or tried to. As she entered the courtyard, she saw most of his fan-club trying to share their lunch-boxes with him and flirt with him. Normally, she would rush over there and beat all the competition away from her man. But this time she just stood where she was and watched the Uchiha more closely. She saw how he scoffed at all of them, pushing the food they offered away from, not caring that he had knocked most of it on the ground. Ino began to frown more and more as she watched his actions. He was totally ignoring everyone around him, pushing away any offer they made to befriend him. Of course, she would have reasoned it that he was just still in pain of his loss and was afraid to let anyone close to him, but for the first time, she focused on his eyes and just them. she looked for any sign of sadness or depression; she saw only rage in those onyx eyes.

"...Naruto's right," whispered Ino. "He only cares about his past." She looked away as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. "...I've been a fool all this time. Shit, I've really screwed things up!"

She never gave another glance at the Uchiha as she turned away to finish the rest of the lunch period alone to ponder about her life.

When the lunch period ended, everyone met outside on the training yard to begin their exercises. Naruto joined Shikamaru and Choji in the exercises, the two clan heirs were again amazed when they saw Ino walk up to them and begin her exercises with them, not saying a word as she started her stretches. The two smiled at her and Shikamaru voiced a few stretch outs that she wasn't doing properly, who was grateful for the help. After the class finished their exercises, Iruka, and the other instructor Mizuka, started the daily sparing match.

"Okay, I will begin pairing you up in groups of two!" informed Iruka, only to be stopped by his fellow instructor.

"If you don't mind, I have a suggestion," said Mizuka.

"What suggestion, Mizuka-san?" wondered Iruka.

"We're getting close to finals and genin graduation, and so although we have an idea who our Rookie of the year will be, we have a new student that we don't know his full potential. So maybe to evaluate his skills, we should pit him against the best in the class," said Mizuka, inwardly grinning wickedly.

When he had learned that the demon had returned and would be attending the Academy, he vowed to do everything he could to hamper and humiliate the thing. It needed to learn its place in the world and if losing its arm wasn't hint enough, he would have to go with public failure to get it to understand it was beneath everyone around it. And what better way was there than to make the demon go against the Uchiha himself.

"Sorry, Mizuka...but there was a little incident involving the two. I don't think it would be in best interest for either if they were forced to face each other today, even in a friendly spar," cautioned Iruka, wondering why Mizuka had suggested such a thing. There was still time before the genin graduation to determine who would become the Rookie of the Year. Something about it left him at ill-ease and he made a mental note to keep an eye on Mizuka. He hoped he was just being paranoid, but his instincts were usually on the mark when they went off. "I'll conduct the choice of pairings as I see fit."

"As you wish, Iruka-san," grinned Mizuka, boiling in rage on the inside. _'Fucking soft-heart. I just knew you'd be kind on that damn demon.'_

Iruka started to pair up the students when he was again, stopped, this time by Ino.

"Iruka-sensei! I wish to ask to be paired up with Naruto!" said Ino, shocking everyone.

"Uh, why would you want that, Ino?" asked Iruka.

"I want to test myself against a real shinobi," was her answer.

Everyone stared at her and soon turned their gaze at Naruto, who was touched by her statement and smiled brightly at her.

"It's fine with me, Iruka-sensei!" said Naruto brightly.

"Uh, grr, fine! So long as everyone will stops interrupting me!" shouted Iruka, then began listing off the pairings for the day.

They took their individual sparring circles. Ino looked at Naruto with focused determination as she took on the Academy style taijutsu. Naruto smirked at her, liking the look on her face and swept his cape back over his shoulders.

"This isn't to demean your challenge, Ino, but I won't use my left arm. Only because if I really did use it, I'd end this match too quickly," stated Naruto, letting his left arm hang idly by his side.

Ino didn't looked deterred by his handicap. "If I can't beat you with you using one arm, then I'll know I need to work hard."

Naruto smirked and started the spar by dashing at her at half his normal speed and launched his right foot at her. She ducked under the kick and swept her leg out to kick his left leg out from under him. At the last moment, he let himself fall back and rolled away from her and pushed off the ground with his right hand back onto his feet. He immediately brought his hand up to block the right hook she aimed at his face. He gripped her wrist and pulled on her arm, forcing her further forward and used his elbow to strike her in the cheek, had he aimed higher, he would have chipped her brow and broken it, causing her own blood to blind her. As this was a friendly spar, he wasn't going to go for such tactics. She wanted to test herself against him and he wouldn't be much help to her if he beat her too easily. So he let her take whatever shot she could at him while he either parried or countered her strikes. As they fought, he pointed out when her footing was wrong, or when she would lean too much on one side giving herself away before she attacked. She took his advice with gruff gratitude and worked on fixing her mistakes, hating how much she really sucked. The match hadn't gone for more than five minutes and she could already feel her lungs burning badly for air, her heart was pounding wildly and her vision was starting to get hazy. It was when she could barely make Naruto out at all did she realize that he had slipped in and knocked her under her chin with his palm and she soon was greeted with the ground.

"Ino! I'm sorry! I thought you would dodge that one!" apologized Naruto, quickly kneeling down by her, checking to make sure she wasn't hurt too badly.

"N-No...I-I'm fine, just my ego and pride is completely crushed," wheezed Ino painfully, taking in short, sharp breaths to try and get air through her arching lungs.

"Okay, you just rest then, Ino-san! You overworked yourself," said Naruto, using the end of his cape to wipe her sweaty brow.

A humph came from the Uchiha. "That's pathetic."

Naruto shot a glare at Sasuke. "Hey, she did her best there, teme!"

Sasuke glared back at the nickname he just used. "Whatever, if she can't hold out that long in a simple taijutsu match, then she really is weak, she even needed a handicap and she still lost."

"I gave her that handicap because I knew she couldn't beat me with this arm," growled Naruto, the pupils of his eyes slitting slightly.

"Humph, she still lost to a loser," grunted Sasuke.

"Why you...!" snarled Naruto, then turned to Iruka. "Hey, Iruka-sensei! Let me and the teme have a match!"

"I don't think that would be wise, Naruto!" called back Iruka, worrying more and more.

"I don't care. I want to show him exactly why no one can beat me with this arm," snapped Naruto.

"Let him, Iruka-san. The boy is asking for this match, we should honor it as this is his first day," added Mizuka, glad that the idiot demon was going to play into his hand by fighting the Uchiha.

Iruka grimaced to himself and growled through clinched teeth. "Fine! But if you over do it, either of you! I'm ending this match and you both get to spend a month's detention together!"

"Trust me, it won't last long," promised Naruto as he took off his cape and folded it up to make a pillow for Ino, placing it under her head. "You just rest, Ino-san...I'll teach that teme not to mock others."

"You don't have to do this, Naruto," replied Ino, looking worried. "He's not worth it."

"But you are," smiled Naruto, then looked away to glare right into the arrogant Uchiha's smug face.

Ino blushed even more at his statement and laid there, watching as he marched over to take an empty spot in a sparring ring.

"Come on, teme. Let's get this over with," challenged Naruto, waving his clawed hand at Sasuke to approach him.

Sasuke grunted at him before stalking over to the sparring ring and fell into his clan's style of taijutsu.

"I'll conduct this match, " stated Iruka as the moved to the edge of the sparring ring. "If I see this fight get out of hand in any way, I'm ending it, got it?"

Both combatants nodded.

"All right, then," said Iruka, raising one hand. "_HAJIME!_"

Sasuke dashed at Naruto without a moment's hesitation. He was the fastest in the class and were it not for a smoke pellet the blonde used, he would have put him in his place. Since this was a pure taijutsu match, the blonde couldn't use the same trick on him. Naruto bent low when Sasuke was in his face, aiming his fist at him. He cart-wheeled to the side and brought his left arm up to block the foot that almost struck him over the head. Quickly, he rolled his arm around the leg and grabbed Sasuke's thigh with his clawed hand...and squeezed.

"Arrrrgghh!" screamed Sasuke, batting at the clawed hand around his leg.

"This was the reason, teme," said Naruto darkly. "This isn't a normal arm, it's pure tech. It has a crushing strength twenty times that of a normal human being, if I wanted to, I can just squeeze more until your leg is crushed right off."

"Fu-ucking cheat-ter!" cursed Sasuke, baring all his hate into his eyes at the blonde.

"I'm not cheating at all. This is purely physical, teme. I'm not using chakra at all in this arm to make it stronger, it's just that deadly...but I am capable of channeling chakra into it, now imagine if I was," toyed Naruto, squeezing his hand just a fraction more.

Sasuke whimpered more and tried hitting the blonde off him, but to no avail.

"This match is over! Sasuke wins by default on account of the use of a weapon!" shouted Mizuki.

"I'm overseeing this fight, Mizuki-san!" said Iruka. "And Naruto has done nothing to break the rules. That arm is a part of him as any limb is, even if it's made of a different material. There are no rules that can be held against him for using it in a pure taijutsu match." He then leveled a glare at his fellow instructor. "Besides, you were the one that wanted them to fight in the first place...Did you expect things to go another way, Mizuki-san?"

Mizuki laughed nervously and smiled at him. "No-no! Nothing like that at all, Iruka-san!"

Iruka stared at him for a moment longer then brought his hand back down. "This match is over as Sasuke is unable to fight or defend himself. Naruto is the winner!"

Choji cheered loudly for his new friend while Shikamaru smirked at the blonde. Ino, who had regained some of her strength was sitting up and clapping for Naruto. Soon those that weren't Uchiha fans started cheering for Naruto and the black-clad blonde smiled bashfully and scratched the back of his head shyly. He let go Sasuke's leg and started to leave the ring, but not before he turned to address the black-haired boy.

"You lost because you underestimated me, Uchiha. Had this been real-life, I would have taken your leg off and killed you, or I could have taken your leg and left you crippled. Either way, it would have ended your shinobi career and ended any dreams you had," said Naruto. "...I'm not saying this to rub it in, I'm saying this because I want you to learn from this experience and think about your actions. If you let yourself be ruled by your anger and the praise of others because of your clan's prestige...then you'll end up in ruin or worse later in life."

Sasuke was holding his leg and trying to grunt out the pain, but after hearing those words, the Uchiha could not do anything to stop the pain the words did to his pride. The new guy was right. Had he been fighting him seriously, then he would have taken his leg and stopped any hopes of seeking vengeance on the man that betrayed him and his family. He would be a cripple, a disgraced one, who couldn't even honor his clan's heritage. But rage had a way of twisting rational thinking. He glared at the blonde's arm , thinking that had he not have that advantage, he wouldn't have lost to a clanless loser like him. It was because of that arm, and nothing else, that gave him victory. But that would change later on once he activated his Sharingan. Once he awakened his bloodline, then nothing in this world would stop him...

* * *

**A/N:** And I think that's a good place to stop for now, haha! Mean of me, I know but that's how the boat floats. Anyway, things are starting to get interesting, no? Ino has stopped being a fan-girl, Naruto has friends, and Sasuke is still...a prick, but who knows how things will turn out, eh? If you have any thoughts, please feel free to tell me and leave some reviews, otherwise the next update will be awhile. Till then...


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or Final Fantasy VII, if I did, I would be rich enough to find a place away from all world strife and annoyance and enjoy life to the fullest!

**A/N: **Here it is by popular demand the update my reviewers, baring the haters, have asked for. If you haven't noticed already, I replaced this one with the Petition: as that no longer seems to matter, and everyone is still going to write what they feel, and I'm inclined to agree. As for the haters, all I have to say is…get a damn life, if all you're gonna do is complain and whine and cuss at someone, it just shows you're just making a scene to be notice. If you want to make a point, write your own work, be constructive, actually put some 'real' effort when you're chewing someone out, okay? Thank you and good bye. Now then, back to what really matters, the story!

**xXx**

**Chapter 4**

As soon as the bell rang to end the day, Naruto and his three new friends headed to the Target Area. As promised, he planned to show them how his gun worked, but also why it was so dangerous to use if not trained properly. Once they arrived, he found that some of the other students were hanging around.

"Hey, there's Naruto!" one of them exclaimed. A boy with red markings on each cheek, wearing a brown jacket with a small dog sitting on his head walked right up to the group, folding his arms over his chest and grunted at Naruto. "So, you gonna demonstrate that weapon of yours or what?"

"Oh, pipe it, Kiba. He'll show us in due time," snapped Ino, puffing up her cheeks in irritation.

"Calm down, creampuff. I just wanna see what the fuss is about the new kid's weapon," replied Kiba, waving her off in a dismissive manner.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the dog-carrying boy. He instantly knew he didn't like this person as he didn't like the Uchiha the moment he laid eyes on him. His tou-san had been very strict in teaching him in treating girls and women respectfully and equally, and he had little tolerance for people that disregard women like they were beneath them.

He walked calmly up to Kiba and leveled him with a stare. "Please be more polite to my friend."

"Or what?" smirked Kiba, giving him a cocky grin as he placed his hands on his hips, then he felt something sharp poking him in his gut. He glanced down to see Naruto's claw poking him.

"My hand has an extension ability...all I have to do is send chakra into my fingers and the claws shoot out and pierce whatever they're aimed at," answered Naruto calmly.

The dog boy paled and the puppy on his head started whining nervously. "I see your point..." Then backed off and took a seat by a boy wearing a huge trench-coat and bandanna keeping his bushy black hair back.

Choji leaned close to Naruto to whisper. "...Can you really do that with your claws?"

Naruto smirked at him as he turned away so Kiba couldn't see his face, then whispered back. "...Nah, still working on that modification, but it was a nice bluff, huh?"

His friends chuckled at him.

"Nice one, Naruto," applauded Shikamaru, finding this day not so much a drag as every other day.

Naruto winked at the Nara heir and strolled over to the position where the students would stand to throw their kunais or shurikens. He took one quick glance at all the target dummies, then pulled out Chimera, taking care to point the tri-barrel up so it was aimed at the air, flipping off the safety.

"This gun shoots off miniature projectiles called bullets. Normally, a handgun can only fire off one bullet at a time, but with this model it can fire off three at the same time, tripling the damage to whatever it hits. The speed of each bullet is ten times faster than a fully trained shinobi can throw, even with chakra enhancing his throw, making it almost impossible to actually see the bullet once the gun has fired," explained Naruto. "All one has to do is pull the trigger and the bullets will fire...but the trigger is very sensitive and the bullets are very dangerous when fired, so it's always a good idea to keep the safety switch on or aimed right at the ground or air, like how I have it now."

"Doesn't sound too dangerous after you explain it like that, but it's hard to believe something like that thing can make little projectiles go so fast," jeered Kiba.

"Oh?" replied Naruto, looking right at him, then aiming Chimera at the target dummies and quickly squeezed the trigger, hitting every single target without so much as glancing back at them.

The entire group of students gasped disbelievingly at the destruction that befell the target dummies. Their heads were completely blown off …

"That's...amazing!" awed Ino, who could not pull her wide eyes away from the scene.

"...I-I couldn't see those bullets at all!" gawked Shikamaru.

Naruto flipped the safety back on Chimera. "Hence why it's so important that only someone trained to use a gun handles it. These things can easily be misused...and there have been many accidents involving children handling guns, and ending up killing themselves or others. So, you can see why I want all of you to understand why I never want anyone touching my gun."

"That is a good reason..." murmured Shikamaru, horrified by the fact that his weapon could so easily take a life, including a child's, and now feeling very uneasy with the weapon the blonde wielded so well.

The boy in the large trench-coat raised his hand, drawing the blonde's attention to him.

"Yeah?"

"How many of those bullets can that weapon contain? I cannot see or figure out how you were able to fire off so many without stopping to re-equip it with those bullets," remarked the boy.

"Ah, you've got a good eye," said Naruto, not aware that he had earned a small smirk from the boy, as the boy's collar hid most of his lower face. "You see, this model could only hold up to five bullets in each barrel, totaling fifteen bullets in all...but I did a little modification to it, especially when I got reading a scroll on seals. I made some seals in the tri-barrels so they keep replacing the bullets and eliminating the empty shells."

"Shells?" murmured Ino.

Naruto opened Chimera's chamber and drew one of the bullets out and tossed it at Ino, who shrieked and jumped away from it when it came at her. This caused everyone to laugh, including Naruto as he walked over and picked up the bullet and smiled at her.

"Don't worry, Ino-san. This bullet is harmless when it's not in the chamber of the gun. Only way it can hurt you were if it was to be exposed to extreme heats or someone banged the bottom of it really, really hard," stated Naruto, holding up the bullet between his index finger and thumb up to her.

She nervously took the bullet and held it for a moment, not really sure if it won't go off on her or not. But soon, she found that it was safe and examined the bullet more closely.

"Wow...you'd never think something like this could be so lethal," uttered Ino, who passed it to Shikamaru, who just as nervously as her, took the bullet.

"Yeah...but after seeing what it can do in action, it's best to heed Naruto's warning," added Shikamaru, surprising everyone with the tone of maturity in his voice and leveling everyone present with a stern look before handing the bullet back to Naruto.

"Indeed, so please...listen to my warning closely," said Naruto with concern in his voice.

Everyone present nodded.

"Good...now who wants to try it?" asked Naruto, grinning widely at everyone.

They all nearly face-faulted.

"What?! After what you just said, you're gonna let people use it?" screamed Ino very loudly.

Naruto, after rubbing his sore ears, laughed heartily. "I'm not gonna just let anyone just go nuts with it, Ino-san. I'll supervise and make sure whoever wants to try it doesn't hurt anyone with it, okay?"

"Still, that thing is a bit too dangerous," cautioned Shikamaru.

"I'll try it," spoke Choji suddenly, walking right up to Naruto.

"Choji-san! Are you sure?" asked Ino, looking very worried.

"Hey, I trust Naruto-san, and besides, I'd like to at least try that once in my life...I might never get the chance again," replied Choji.

Not really comfortable with the idea, they wanted to stop Choji, but at the same time they didn't want to deny their big-boned friend. Naruto held the gun's hilt out to Choji, who carefully took the weapon and held it awkwardly. Naruto quickly got behind him and positioned him and his arm so the gun was facing where it needed to.

"Okay, Choji. I'm gonna lead you so you don't accidentally fire it where it doesn't need to go," said Naruto reassuringly.

"T-Thanks...it feels strange holding a weapon like this," remarked Choji.

"It should, the hilt was custom-made to fit the palm of my hand," informed Naruto, guiding Choji's arm to the remains of the practice dummies and then flipped the safety off. "...Okay, this is an important part. Take aim by using the tip at the end of the top barrel, that's good...Now, ease your finger over the trigger, don't pull it! You just wanna squeeze it around the trigger until it's tight enough to..."

The gun fired and the remaining torso of one of the target dummies was blown clean off. Choji nearly stumbled back and fell on his rear, or would have were it not for Naruto who remained behind him and caught him at that moment. He quickly gave the gun back and smiled widely at the blonde.

"Wow, that was incredible!" exclaimed the big-boned boy, right before he started rubbing his wrist and groaning some. "But that thing kicked back!"

"Yeah, that's the recoil. I forgot to mention that, you kinda gotta build up to it, but once you do, then it's no problem dealing with," said Naruto.

So everyone took a turn at firing one round of Naruto's gun at the poor target dummies, even Shikamaru after Choji reassured him it would be fine. Ino was the last to shoot the gun and when she did, she found she had to use both hands just to raise it up.

"This thing is heavy!" complained Ino, struggling to keep the gun leveled at the targets.

Naruto slipped his hand under hers just enough to take some of the stress off her arms, this brought the two blondes in close proximity of each other, but Naruto didn't seem to notice or care. Ino however was fighting to keep calm by being so close to him that she almost didn't hear him tell her to squeeze the trigger. Jerking back to reality, she made the mistake of pulling the trigger and when it fired, she completely missed her target and was almost thrown back by the recoil, only to be caught in Naruto's cybernetic arm.

"Are you okay?" asked Naruto with concern, taking the gun out of her hands.

"Y-Yeah!" squeaked Ino, blushing harder than she had ever in her life.

Naruto smiled at her and helped steady herself back on her feet. He flipped the safety back on once more on Chimera and holstered the gun.

"Hey, dobe! I want my turn at that thing!"

Naruto groaned and looked behind him to see Sasuke, accompanied by Sakura and few of his other devoted fangirls.

"Sorry, teme, but I don't trust you and don't want you anywhere near this weapon. You're too much of a hothead," replied Naruto, looking away from the Uchiha and swinging his cape to hide his left arm. "Besides, you weren't around when I explained about it, and I'm not in the mood to repeat myself today."

Sasuke looked ready to start a scene, but Naruto began walking away from the targeting area.

"I'm hungry," said Naruto curtly.

As soon as he left, everyone else left, too.

"Hey, Naruto! Can we join you?" said Ino quickly, running up to him.

"Sure! Do you guys like ramen?" replied Naruto, smiling widely at her.

"...Ramen?"

**xXx**

Over in another part of the village, Hyuga Hinata was making her way home as fast as her legs would carry her. She was so excited about the new student and the possibility of meeting the people that saved her when she was so little. Even as she landed in her compound, she nearly missed slamming into a solid body that had just come from her father's office. At the last second, both her and the other person twirled around each other on their heels.

"Sorry, uncle Hizashi!" apologized Hinata breathlessly.

The stoic expression her uncle had over his face cracked a small smile. "Afternoon, Hinata. What's the hurry?"

"A new student just joined the Academy and his last name matches the same man who was with the girl that saved me from that Kumo spy!" exclaimed Hinata, not realizing she hadn't stuttered once, or at all the entire day.

Hizashi widened his pupil-less eyes. "The representative for WRO?"

"He didn't mention that, but he had an odd weapon on his hip that his tou-san taught him to use, also he said his tou-san's name was Vincent Valentine," replied Hinata.

"Vincent Valentine?"

Hinata turned around and smiled. Her father stepped out from his office when he heard his daughter, wondering why she sounded so unusually ecstatic than she normally was, then his own interest perked up when he heard that man's name.

"...So he is back in the village?" questioned Hiashi.

Hinata nodded respectfully in greeting to her father. "I believe so."

Hiashi nodded and folded his hands into his robe. "Then I will leave it in your hands to invite the boy and his father to our compound for dinner." Then returned to his office, sliding the door closed silently.

Hinata bowed respectfully to the door, then once more to her uncle. "I'll see if I can find them!" She then dashed off out of the compound to start her search for the Valentines.

"That girl just keeps surprising me," Hizashi muttered to himself, well aware his twin brother, who was standing right behind the door would hear him, then walked off to complete his duties.

The young heiress hopped from roof to roof back to the Academy in hopes of finding the young Valentine still there. As she neared the Academy, she had heard the strangest noises she had ever heard in her life. She wasn't exactly sure what to make of them, but they reminded her of explosive tags going off, only sounding sharper. Not sure what was going on, she slowed down and made her way cautiously to the Academy, then activated her Dojutsu to see that almost all her classmates where gathered at the Target Area. Wondering what was going on, she made her way to the spot just in time to see Naruto catch Ino after she had fired his weapon, then witnessed the scene that played out when the Uchiha appeared, demanding his turn and Naruto's refusal and offer of eat together with Ino and her two friends.

She took that moment to appear to them, bowing to Naruto when he noticed her. "Ohayo, Naruto…"

"Ohayo," Naruto replied back, bowing his head somewhat in awkwardness to her formal greeting.

"I wish to deliver an invitation. You and your father are invited tonight to the Hyuga Compound for dinner, in honor of both your return to the village and proper thank you for the service your father had performed for the Hyuga Clan," Hinata said as politely and genuine as she could, wishing very much to show he was truly welcomed to her clan's compound. It wasn't often that anyone was given an invitation into her clan's compound, and was considered a high honor by them to give one to someone outside their clan.

Naruto blinked for a moment at the invitation and then looked apologetic at Ino and the other two. "I guess we'll have to make it a rain-check for ramen."

Ino showed no offense to be put off, understanding the depth of the invitation from a respected clan. Being the heiress to the Yamanaka Clan, she had to be drilled with all the traditional upbringing becoming of a future leader of her clan just as Hinata was, and knew very well that if Naruto had refused the invitation it would not be view kindly by anyone in the village, especially the other well respected clans.

"That's okay, Naruto-san. You just better make up for it tomorrow, got it?" Ino played off so as to not hurt show her own feelings on the matter. She had looked forward to spending more time with the gun-wielding blonde, but she would feel even more hurt if she was the cause of his bad reputation for standing up a clan like the Hyugas.

Naruto frowned somewhat at her reply before a bright, smiling mask fell over his face and he turned to Hinata, bowing fluidly and deeply to her. "I'm honored, I will inform tou-san that we are expected and we will arrive at…?"

"Oh! S-Seven p.m.," Hinata quickly replied, horrified at herself for stuttering that one word.

It had been a very horrible problem for her growing up. She had many confidence issues and it resulted in her not being a very strong speaker in her younger years. It may have been her biggest problem had it not been for her uncle Hizashi who had taken some private time with her to help boost her confidence and work out her stuttering habit. Were it not for him, she would be sure she would have been a mess and a great disappointment to her father for her weak confidence. He had been so much help to her and was sure he was even more help to her father and mother, especially to her. For there was an incident after her mother was giving birth to her little sister, Hanabi, where she began to bleed internally during the delivery, he had noticed the problem right away as he his own wife had the same problem with Neji, but was too late in catching it to save her. He would not allow his brother's wife to befall the same fate and so wanted to be presented during the birth to make sure all went well, keeping his Byakugan active the entire time and watching for the faintest signs that would give show of a serious situation. As it was, her mother had a huge internal hemorrhage in her abdominal cavity halfway during when her little sister entered the world. Acting quickly, he had used a minor healing jutsu his late wife had taught him to stop the bleeding enough for more experienced healers to attend to it.

Once they had closed the artery, the delivery went very smoothly and her mother was holding her baby sister happily as she took her first deep breath of the world, cueing over her and thanking Hizashi over and over for being present during the birthing. Ever since then, the bond that was stiff between him and her father had grown deeply and the two doubled their resolve to fix their clan's treatment toward the Branch family.

It was still looking very slim for the clan to heal that old wound they themselves inflicted, but the two had begun patching what everyone thought could never be fixed.

Naruto caught the slight look of embarrassment as she stuttered but just smiled at her and nodded. "We'll see you at seven then." He bowed politely to her. "Till then…" He straightened up and walked away from them all, sweeping his cape over his left arm to hide it from view, looking back at Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji. "I'll see you guys tomorrow then, later."

"Catch you later, man!" Choji said, waving a potato chip in the air as he waved good-bye.

Shikamaru nodded lazily and started heading home, but with a look of anticipation. He found himself actually looking forward to the next day and what it may reveal.

Ino watched her newest friend walk away and smiled somewhat and sighed. She had a lot to think about because of him, mainly how she was going to make up for all the time she wasted chasing the Uchiha instead of becoming a proper kunoichi as she should have.

**xXx**

Naruto reached for his cell-phone as he was walking and called his father. "Hey tou-san, we just got a dinner invitation over at the Hyuga Compound. I'm heading back home now."

"Hyuga?" replied Vincent's voice from the phone. "I remember them. They were the ones that Yuffie helped out the same day when I rescued you."

"Yeah, I remember Aunt Yuffie telling me about how she _masterfully_ took down a really strong shinobi that nearly cost her life and dreams, yet pulled through it all to save a little girl from a fate worse than death," Naruto chuckled.

He heard Vincent groan. "That sounds like something she'd say. So they found out about us, hmm? All right, we'll go to this dinner. I'll start getting ready and I'll get your change of clothes ready."

"Thanks, tou-san. I'll be there in no time flat," Naruto replied and ended the call, putting his cell-phone away and started dashing down the street, easily bypassing all the civilians still out.

It wasn't long before he made it to his apartment and entered it. As he did, Vincent walked out of his bedroom in a change of clothes that he hardly wore anymore save for really special events. Gone was his fearsome battle clothes, in their place was his old Turk suit with a red dress shirt underneath it. He still wore his golden gauntlet on his left hand, a reason he had yet explained to anyone why he constantly wore it, even when it was unneeded. His wild, long spiked hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, with just a few bladed locks hanging off to the side of his face. He was fixing his left cuff as he glanced up at Naruto.

"Your suit is on the bed, go change and…and I'd suggest using Outsider instead of Chimera for the evening," Vincent informed, knowing how his adopted son preferred something a bit heavy in weaponry. Outsider was smaller in comparison to Chimera, but it still held a nice punch to any unlucky soul that it was aimed out.

"What about you?" Naruto asked.

Vincent reached into his coat and pulled out a handgun called Peacemaker. It was a slick narrow revolver, but it was quick and could cause some decent damage quickly. He put the gun back in his holster and buttoned his coat and fixed it so it didn't let the weapon bulge hint at its existence.

"This might be a formal dinner…but don't let your guard down," Vincent cautioned, receiving an understanding nod from his son.

"Right, tou-san," Naruto said, then headed back into his room and started to change. When he re-emerged from his room, he had an almost identical suit like Vincent's only his dress shirt was a dark orange and his pants and coat was charcoal black. He still wore his bandanna but fixed it so his face was more visible, showing off his facial features and his whiskered cheeks.

"We have an hour before we're expected, think we should wait before leaving?" Naruto said.

"We'll go now. I wouldn't mind talking to the girl's father for a bit," Vincent replied.

Nodding in understanding, Naruto and Vincent left their apartment and causally walked to the Hyuga Compound. As they walked, Naruto informed his father of everything that happened on his first day in the Academy, going into details with his confrontation with the Uchiha heir and his notable attention to his weapon.

"I wouldn't pass it if the teme tries to get his hands on it, tou-san," Naruto warned.

"Hmm, just be sure to keep an eye on it. The people in this country aren't used to having guns around and would be very dangerous if some little punk got his hands on one," Vincent advised. "I'll make sure our arsenal is protected from greedy hands…"

"And our Materia?" Naruto asked in a whisper, glancing at him out of the corner of his eye.

"It's already hidden. Although the WRO had supplied Konoha with some Materia…I don't want anyone getting the idea that they can help themselves to our own," Vincent said, taking the precautionary attitude he and the rest of the WRO and ex-members of Avalanche had with Yuffie: extreme paranoia. No one would find their secret supply and he would bet his entire stash of chocolate bars nobody will. "Once you've passed that Genin exam of yours you can start using your Materia again…but for now until we are sure about this village, we'll keep it all low-key."

"I don't like not having my Materia…I worked my ass off to level them," Naruto grumbled.

"I know but this is a shinobi village and we can't afford to let them know exactly what we can do," Vincent said, feeling the same way as Naruto in a place he considered hostile territory.

"I just want these next five months to go by quickly," Naruto said curtly, stuffing his normal hand in his pocket.

Vincent silently agreed with him. If he was lucky…which was probably close to none…Naruto would not want to stay in this bloody village and return to Edge and be where he _really_ belonged. All he needed from his adopted son was to tell him that he wanted to leave, and he'd have Cid come pick them up at the gate and forever leave this painful place. But Naruto was persistent…and very stubborn. He had stated time and time again that he would become a shinobi of Konoha and prove that he wasn't the demon everyone believed him to be. How big and forgiving the boy's heart was…even the lost of a limb would not deter him from believing that these villagers could be convinced he was just a human boy forced with a heavy burden.

Soon they arrived to the Hyuga compound. At the entrance to the compound were two Hyuga guards, both locked their blank eyes on the pair as they arrived.

"State your business here," one of the guards demanded, slightly reaching for his kunai.

"We were invited by Hinata's father to attend a dinner visit," Naruto replied respectively. It was one of the hardest things for the boy, as he had a bad urge to be completely opposite, were it not for Vincent beating the manners into him, he probably would have been as bad as Yuffie.

The guard eyed them both critically for a moment, activating his Byakugan. "You both have something concealed in their coats; they look like weapons to me."

"They are," Vincent confirmed.

"Remove them. You will not be permitted to enter with any form of weapons," the guard stated coldly, reaching for his kunai pooch.

"Then we have a problem," Vincent stated just as coldly.

Before an argument could break out, another Hyuga in formal robes and a white cloth wrapped over his forehead approached them from inside the compound. "It's okay. They're allowed to carry what they feel they need for protection. This man here is after all a representative of the WRO…"

Both guards bowed to the Hyuga. "Pardon us, Hizashi-san! We were only doing our duty."

"That's all right, keep up your good work," Hizashi said, bowing to them and then to the guests. "Please, follow me. We have been expecting you eagerly."

Vincent and Naruto bowed in return and quietly followed the Hyuga to one of the larger buildings, whereas upon entering, all the servants and shinobi off duty bowed as they past them.

"This is very formal," Vincent remarked.

"Hiashi-san wanted to thank you properly for foiling the kidnapping attempt on Lady Hinata," Hizashi replied over his shoulder as he led them to the main house.

"Technically, it was my associate Yuffie who aided in that kidnapping," Vincent corrected.

"True, but you were present with her on that evening, and you actually helped more than you thought that night when you helped the young Uzumaki here," Hizashi said, looking over his shoulder to wink at Naruto.

"I feel there's more that needs to be explained," Vincent remarked.

"I'm not sure if I'm allowed to reveal that part. I will leave it to my brother, Hiashi-sama, to explain if he wishes," Hizashi said, picking up steps faster to reach the door and slid it open for them and bowed.

They entered the house and Hizashi quickly closed the door and guided them to the dining room. Waiting for them was the main head family, Hiashi himself. Next to him on his right was his wife who bowed slightly and smiled warmly at them. Sitting next to her was their youngest daughter, Hanabi, who looked unimpressed by the whole thing. Beside Hiashi on his left was his eldest daughter, Hinata, who Naruto quickly recognized and waved at her happily. She waved back briefly and returned to her proper pose at the table side. All of them were kneeling beside a low-legged table with white cushions positioned under them than typical chairs. Sitting next to Hanabi was an unfamiliar boy with a village Hitai-ate covering his forehead, but he looked remarkably like Hiashi and Hizashi, only if they were younger. Hizashi himself sat down next to this boy. All of them were wearing formal robes for the occasion like Hizashi.

Hiashi stood up and bowed deeply to their guests. "Welcome to our home, Valentines."

Vincent and Naruto returned the gesture.

"Thank you for offering us a place at your table this night," Vincent replied, then turned his head to give Naruto a meaningful look.

"Oh, right! Yes, thanks for inviting us!" Naruto said excitedly.

Vincent frowned some before it quirked into a soft smile.

Hiashi did not seem bothered by the brashness. He waved for them to take their seats next to Hinata. Vincent chose to have Naruto sit next to Hinata, feeling it was only fair as the two were classmates. He then took a seat next to Naruto. Once they were all seated, the servants came into the room and quietly set the table with food. It didn't pass neither Valentines with the array of food that was being presented. Vincent was familiar with some of the selections as they were reserved for mostly high officials or royalty who were attending a true formal dinner.

The roasted duck was seasoned heavily with herbs that would give it a very rich taste. The rice looked so pure and white they almost looked like clouds floating in the rice container bowls. Other various array of food was present, things that Naruto had no idea what they could be. His upbringing in Edge had limited him to the average food choices they served there. This he imagined was probably considered the finest dishes of the Elemental Nations. He was about to serve himself once the food was placed on the table, but a soft hand from his adoptive father paused him.

The servants had started to fix the servings for everyone, giving each plate a decent and equal amount, filling ever rice bowl with as much rice as it could hold, and then placing it before the family and guests. Said guests observed their hosts and noticed quickly that they ate much the same as traditional Wutanese, so the two Valentines had no worry of trying to pretend how to eat at a formal Konoha clan dinner.

The conversation started out lightly while they ate, mostly about village life between the adults. Naruto had started up a small conversation with Hinata.

"How has the Academy been for you?" Naruto asked politely, feeling that was the best topic to start up with.

"It's been educational for the most part about the basics, if at times the lessons seemed dragged out," Hinata answered honestly, but somewhat quietly. "Iruka-sensei is a great sensei…but he does tend to draw out the lectures some. In his defense, though, most of the topics he drags out usually end up to be very important facts."

Just then the boy from across the table spoke up. "I had him myself when I was attending the Academy."

"Oh, forgive me. This is my cousin, Neji-san!" Hinata introduced.

The cousin bowed his head respectively to Naruto. "It is a pleasure to meet one of my cousin's classmates. I've heard about your father and I had hoped that his partner, the lady Kisaragi Yuffie would be present as well for this dinner."

Naruto fought to stifle a laugh. "You are the first person I've ever heard anyone refer to her like that."

Neji raised an eyebrow. "She is she not the only heiress to the Kisaragi clan in Wutai?"

"She is but they are not so formal with titles like that. At least amongst her clan and friends," Naruto informed, but then quickly followed up. "But don't get the wrong impression of her. She's a master of deception in all fields, so she may act childish and immature to things…but she'll take you down in a heartbeat when she stops acting like that."

"She sounds…complicated," Neji said.

"She's a Wutai Shinobi. They've been at war with people with better technology for years and they're still surviving. You do what you have to," Naruto remarked causally.

"Did you train under any Wutai shinobi?" Hinata asked curiously.

"It was Aunt Yuffie herself who trained me personal, in fact," Naruto replied with a smile.

"I heard she was able to pull off a continuous stream of shushins, one that even baffled our proud Dojutsu," Neji said.

"Is that a problem for the shinobi here?" Naruto asked.

"It is a jonin leveled jutsu and requires high chakra control to perform it, and even then, it consumes a good bit of chakra for a jonin so they only use it when off-duty for minor missions around the village," Neji said as if he was reading straight from a text book.

"That only applies to the average jonin. For others who build up their chakra resources and with enough chakra control discipline, it becomes second-nature," Naruto countered.

"Only a Kage has that level of control to perform shushins rapidly. This Yuffie person can't be that strong," Hanabi said, finally choosing to speak up.

"Have you ever seen her?" Naruto challenged.

"Well, of course not. I wasn't even born when she was here," Hanabi said.

"Then how can you state how strong someone is if you haven't ever seen their strength? She taught me to never make assumptions about anyone's power. That will get you killed and there have been many times where that lesson has saved me," Naruto replied.

"Didn't help with keeping that arm of yours, did it?" Hanabi remarked curtly. "Tou-san explained that you lost your real arm some time ago to some incident. He never stated why it happened, but my guess is that you did something stupid."

"Hanabi!" Hiashi yelled sharply.

"What? It's the likeliest truth," Hanabi replied nonchalantly.

Her father sent a cold, meaningful look at her and her only reply was to roll her own. Vincent took that moment to glance at Naruto and was his son rubbing the wrist of his cybernetic arm.

He thought it would be best to just excuse themselves and return home, but then Naruto looked directly at the youngest daughter of the clan head, and said, "It was the first time I learned to never assume anything of other people, because I didn't know what I know now. I lost this arm and almost lost my chances of becoming a shinobi for not knowing that lesson. But Kami was looking out for me and allowed me to be adopted by my tou-san and finally find a family. He took me in and I've been eternally grateful for his support and encouragement." The held up his clawed hand and pulled his sleeve down to expose the rest of it to Hanabi. "This arm will always be a reminder to me of that lesson, and my Aunt Yuffie helped re-enforce it and trained me to keep from falling prey to it again."

The mood at the table had died some to a grim silence. Naruto rolled up his sleeve and buttoned the cuff. He looked up to Hiashi and bowed his head.

"Pardon for ruining this evening with my tone," he said politely.

Hiashi shook his head. "No, you were making your point and you have a very valid reason to defend your claim. I must apology for my daughter's rude comment."

"None is needed. She was just being honest. She's still young and hasn't seen the world the way I have," Naruto stood up, as did Valentine, following his son's lead. "…She's lucky."

"We must leave now," Vincent said shortly, but then bowed to Hiashi and his wife. "Thank you for inviting us to your table."

"…Maybe we can plan another time?" Nina asked hopefully.

Vincent replied with a cold, emotionless face. "That may be some time…"

He placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and the blonde youth took that as his cue to leave, not looking back at any of them. Once they were out of the room, all the attention centered down on Hanabi, who seemed to not notice as she calmly ate her dinner.

"Hanabi…you do realize you insulted our guests greatly, correct?" Hiashi said with a low tone.

"He couldn't take some criticism, is it my fault he let it get to him?" Hanabi replied after swallowing her food.

"You only proved his point by assuming it was his own fault for what happened to him. I did not wish to reveal this part of his past as I and your mother felt it was too disturbing to explain, but now since you insulted our guests so blatantly, you forced my hand," Hiashi said with a slight rough tone in his voice. "That boy was blamed for something completely out of his control at the moment of his birth. He had no say and at the time had no knowledge of the sins that everyone had laid on his shoulders. In their blind rage, they attacked him and it was a chunin helping in the crowd, with the same prejudice as the fools, who cut off his arm. It was the first of tortures those people no doubt planned to commit on the boy, but then the very same man who adopted him came to his rescue and saved him. He lost that arm because he was ignorant to how most of the village viewed him. He had no reason to until they attacked him. He indeed had learned the hardest way to never make assumptions about people."

He stood up from the table, reaching out his hand to his wife, who calmly took it, not looking at anyone and stood to stand by her husband. "Hinata, Neji, Hizashi. Continue with your meal…Hanabi, you are grounded to your room for the next week…I advise you to take that time to think about your actions this night and the repercussions of those actions have caused. Now leave at once."

Hanabi left the table in a huff, but not before snatching the last piece of duck on her place and popping it in her mouth and stormed off. The last few occupants at the table sat quietly and stared at each other, except for Hinata, who had watched the two Valentines depart and feeling really awful how everything turned out. She was hoping it would be a fun experience for her new classmate, and it was rare for her father to host such a formal, private dinner like this one. She felt she needed to do something, to fix it and was almost about to leave the table.

As if reading her mind, Hizashi said to her, "There is nothing to be done tonight, Hinata-san. Tomorrow you might be able to patch things up. He needs time to adjust again to the village and no doubt feels uneasy about everything."

"Do you think so?" Hinata said hopefully.

"He appears to have a strong will. It shows much strength on his part to return to the place he was almost killed," Hizashi pointed out. "I've seen many people run away from their fears. He has chosen to face his and overcome them. He will make a remarkable man one day…" Her uncle them smirked slightly at her. "Maybe even boyfriend material…"

"Uncle!" Hinata exclaimed as her face flared red out of embarrassment.

"I'm only teasing," Hizashi chuckled at her, taking that moment to sip some tea from his cup.

He meant it only as a joke but as he watched her reaction further, he noted signs from her expression that she was actually considering what he had said. He chuckled quietly to himself and planned to tell his brother of this. Feel him out and make sure it was all right for the clan heiress to be interested in someone outside of the clan. He wasn't worried too much about it. The Valentines have shown to be very respectful and with their status as representatives of WRO, they were as good as royalty in Konoha, so it would not really be frowned on if such an interest was to grow further in the near future. The only reason he was a bit concerned was that his twin was far more overprotective of his two girls than anyone thought. As any father with a kind and beautiful daughter, they would be wary to let them near anyone they felt wasn't trustworthy…and he didn't wish for him to kill the lad before he even realized Hinata fancied him. He smiled more and went back to enjoying the meal. No point in letting the food go to waste, after all.

Neji remained polite and kept himself quiet by enjoying the rest of his meal. The enjoyment of the meal had been ruined after Hanabi's remark, but it gave him something to remain busy while his father teased his cousin.

The boy intrigued him. He reminded Neji of a wounded bird that had lost its wing. By some miracle he had gained a new wing and was able to fly once again. It left him wondering if there may be hope that this father and himself could gain that freedom one day, too.

'_You are an interesting person, Valentine-Uzumaki Naruto I look forward to seeing how far you can soar,'_ Neji thought quietly to himself.

**xXx**

**A/N: **I'll try my best to get another update for this fanfiction out soon. Looking forward to your reviews and if I get enough, I'll work harder on getting the next one out as fast as I can.

Till then…


End file.
